The Defiant

GM Defiers!

Activity on Ethereum Layer 2s i surging as users take advantage of the cheap fees ushered in by last week’s Dencun upgrade. Transaction volume across leading L2s has doubled over the past seven days, with unique active wallets also spiking upwards.

Institutional investors are buying up BTC in spite of Bitcoin pulling back from last week’s all-time highs. Not every crypto asset is trending down, however, with several alternative Layer 1 networks posting double-digit gains for the past seven days.

Plus, BlackRock tapped Ethereum to launch a tokenized fund for institutional investors, and Immutable and Polygon labs teamed up to launch a $100 million blockchain gaming fund.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

Dencun drives activity surge on L2
Institutions buy Bitcoin despite dip
Layer 1s outperform amid crypto pullback
BlackRock launches tokenized fund on Ethereum
Immutable and Polygon’s $100M GameFi fund

🙏Sponsored

GridPlus Lattice1 Review | The New Standard For Hardware Wallets?

👇Recommended

Check out our friends at Unchained Crypto

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

	Ticker	Value	24h

Ticker	Value	24h
Bitcoin	$62,373	-7.88 %
Ethereum	$3,193	-9.44 %
Gold	1st Future$2,156	-0.20 %
S&P 500	5178.51 0.56	%
Arch Web	32.63	-9.48 %
Learn more about Arch Indices ,[object Object]		%

🎬 WATCH

Check out our video exploring Solana’s surging ecosystem. Also watch our podcast with Kevin Owocki, co-founder of Gitcoin, and Meg Lister, GM at Gitcoin Grants Labs, to learn about Gitcoin’s new roadmap.

THANKING OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS

| NEWSLETTER CONTINUES BELOW |

NEAR is the chain abstraction stack, empowering builders to create apps that scale to billions of users and across all blockchains.

🤸🏼‍♀️ Ethereum Layer 2 Adoption Trends High After Dencun Upgrade

Last week’s Dencun upgrade precipitated a surge in Layer 2 activity, with leading L2s posting a triple-figure increase in transaction volume as users migrate to Layer 2 to take advantage of low fees. Transaction costs on Arbitrum, OP Mainnet, Base, and Starknet dropped by at least 96% following the activation of EIP-4844.

💼 Institutions Accumulate Bitcoin Despite Recent Market Volatility

Large entities continue to buy up Bitcoin despite BTC tumbling 12% from last week’s all-time highs. U.S.-based investment advisors and MicroStrategy are accumulating Bitcoin while Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is looking into adding BTC to its portfolio. Argentinians seeking relief from the country’s hellish hyperinflation are turning to Bitcoin once again as well.

📈 Layer 1s Outperform as Bitcoin Takes a Breather

Low-cost Layer 1 networks are trending up despite most cryptocurrencies crashing amid Bitcoin’s pullback. Solana, Aptos, and Fantom are each enjoying double-digit gains over the past seven days at a time when only 10 of the top 100 crypto assets are posting weekly gains greater than 1%.

🏦 BlackRock Tokenizes Fund for Accredited Investors on Ethereum Blockchain

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund on Ethereum. On-chain data shows the tokenized fund went live two weeks ago, and is open to sophisticated traders with a minimum investment of $100,000.

🕹️ Immutable and Polygon Labs Unveil $100M Blockchain Gaming Fund

Immutable, Polygon Labs, and King River Capital have joined forces to launch a $100 million fund targeting the blockchain gaming sector. The fund will make “ecosystem-agnostic” investments across the space, with the market cap of GameFi tokens bouncing 170% since late October.

🌍 ELSEWHERE

Robinhood Launches Crypto Wallet for Android Users (Watcher Guru)
Montenegro Sticks to Handing Do Kwon to Korea, Snubbing US (Bloomberg)
TON Foundation launches Toncoin community rewards initiative worth over $100 million (The Block)