💥Blast's TVL Crashes After Controversial Mainnet Launch

GM Defiers!

Blast, the highly-anticipated but controversial Ethereum Layer 2, has completed its mainnet launch. While Blast ranked as the third-largest L2 by total value locked (TVL) following a divisive pre-launch points campaign, three-quarters of its TVL has evaporated since going live.

In other news, Robinhood supports Arbitrum-based DEX trading, Metis has integrated Chainlink for cross-chain interoperability and Ondo is bringing U.S. securities trading on-chain.

Plus, PORTAL debuted as a top 200 crypto asset with a $400M market cap.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

• Blast’s TVL crashes 76%
• Robinhood users can trade on Arbitrum DEXes
• Metis taps Chainlink amid restaking push
• Ondo brings securities trading on-chain
• PORTAL debuts among top 200 cryptocurrencies

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• Trading via lending protocols - the how and the why

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

🎬 WATCH

Check out our video explaining how you can qualify for multiple airdrops through Ethereum restaking. Also watch our podcast with Avery Ching, the co-founder and CTO of Aptos, who discusses the roadmap and controversy surrounding the Layer 1 network developed by former Facebook engineers.

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🆕 Blast Mainnet Goes Live Ahead Of Schedule

The controversial Layer 2 network from Blast is finally live on mainnet roughly four months after the project started taking in assets to a one-way deposit contract. The project attracted criticism for its pre-launch points campaign, which positioned the network as the third-largest Layer 2 with a more than $2B TVL. However, Blast’s TVL is down 76% since launching roughly 24 hours ago.

🚀 Robinhood Partners With Arbitrum to Ease Layer 2 Access

Robinhood, the popular finance app boasting more than 10M monthly traders, has rolled out support for Arbitrum-based decentralized exchanges for its wallet users. The news comes as Robinhood is increasingly moving to integrate with popular web3 platforms, following news of a partnership with MetaMask in early February.

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Stellar Brings Smart Contracts to Mainnet

On Feb. 20, Stellar network validators voted to upgrade Mainnet to Protocol 20, kicking off a new era for the Stellar smart contracts tech stack, which delivers a secure, batteries-included developer experience built to scale and for real-world use.

Getting to this moment has been an incredible journey. For the last two years, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) and the Stellar community have discussed, designed, and built new functionality transforming the Stellar network. Join the developers and projects that are building next generation everyday financial services on Stellar.

Learn more about Soroban smart contracts on Stellar

READ MORE: Smart Contracts Are Live on Stellar Mainnet

🌉 Metis Integrates Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol Amid Restaking Push

Metis has integrated Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol in a move expanding its support for multichain use cases and applications. The move paves the way for Metis users to access Ethereum restaking yields, with the network announcing forthcoming partnerships with EigenLayer and Renzo Finance.

⚖️ Ondo To Use Blockchains as Middleware to Trade Traditional Securities

Ondo Finance is working to build out its suite of real-world asset products on-chain, with the project announcing the launch of Ondo Global Markets — a new venture facilitating the trading of tokenized U.S. securities. The news follows Ondo launching its U.S. Treasuries-backed stablecoin across new blockchain networks.

🕳️ Portal Debuts at Lofty $2.5B Valuation

PORTAL, the freshly airdropped token from the cross-chain gaming platform of the same name, debuted among the top 200 cryptocurrencies with a $400M valuation. The project claims integrations with more than 200 web3 games across multiple networks, billing the token as a “universal gaming coin.”

🌍 ELSEWHERE

• Nigeria detains Binance executives in cryptocurrency crackdown (Reuters)
• Worldcoin’s WLD Drops as Elon Musk Sues OpenAI (CoinDesk
• Over $3 billion in crypto tokens set to unlock this March, with Arbitrum ‘massive’ unlock (CryptoSlate)

🔥 TRENDING

• Bitcoin Goes Parabolic As Massive Inflows In ETFs Push It Beyond $60,000
• Ethereum Ecosystem Continues To Rally Into New Year-To-Date Highs
• Markets See Violent Volatility Amid Record Bitcoin ETF Activity
• UNI Soars 60% On Fee Switch Proposal
• Aptos (APT): Ex-Facebook Engineers Aim For 1 Million TXN/S
• EtherFi Closes $23M Series A Round As Eigenlayer TVL Surpasses $9B
• Ondo To Use Blockchains as Middleware to Trade Traditional Securities
• Fidelity Canada Recommend 1-3% of Crypto Allocation in Portfolios
• Merlin Chain’s Surging Growth Pushes Bitcoin’s DeFi TVL Past $2B
• DePIN Sector Sees Resurgence In 2024