🌎Worldcoin Launches Layer 2 Network

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GM Defiers!

Controversial eye-scanning project Worldcoin is joining Optimism’s Superchain ecosystem with the launch of World Chain, an Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 network.

Meanwhile, crypto markets dived as stocks continued to bleed lower amid increasing U.S. dollar strength.

And in other Layer 2 news, Scroll has launched a loyalty program to incentivize users to bridge assets to the network.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

• Worldcoin joins Optimism’s Superchain
• Scroll kicks off points program
• Markets plunge as dollar rises
• How RWAs will evolve and thrive in the bull market

🙏Sponsored

• Everything You Need to Know About Consensus 2024
• Reserve Protocol’s Permissionless Stablecoin Design Hub

🎬 WATCH

Check out our interview with the founder of Script3, to learn about Blend Capital, its Stellar-based lending protocol deployment platform. We also spoke to Emin Gun Sirer, the CEO of Ava Labs, to get his take on the rapidly expanding Layer 2 sector and Avalanche’s future.

Also, watch our podcast with Mike Silagadze, the founder of EtherFi, and Nikhil Raghuveera, the co-founder of Aethos, for a preview of EigenLayer’s AVS ecosystem.

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🌎Worldcoin Launches OP-powered Layer 2 Network

Worldcoin is launching a new blockchain called World Chain, which uses Optimism's technology for Ethereum compatibility and aims to tackle bot issues on the blockchain.

Verified users will enjoy benefits like priority block space and free gas. Despite its innovative approach, the project has faced significant controversy and legal challenges due to privacy concerns related to its eye-scanning method.

📜Layer 2 Scroll zkEVM Introduces Points Program

Ethereum Layer 2 solution Scroll has kicked off a loyalty program dubbed Scroll Sessions with the goal of increasing assets bridged to the network.

To be eligible for Session Zero, users must bridge ETH and wstETH via Scroll’s native bridge or STONE, an omnichain fungible token (OFT), on LayerZero.

Marks will be assigned retroactively for users who have deployed assets since Oct. 10, 2023.

SPONSORED POST

LightLink Will Start a Fair $LL Token Distribution this week.

LightLink, a hidden gem EVM L2 with gasless transactions, is set to distribute its native token $LL through Fjord Foundry's Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP) this week!

• Gasless Layer 2.
• Celestia underneath.
• 115,000 daily transactions on Mainnet.
• Partnered with Animoca Brands and 25+ other ecosystem projects.
• $6.2M in seed round from both Web2 and Web3 investors.

Among common token utilities, $LL holders will be able to acquire NFT nodes to become LightLink validators and earn rewards.

LightLink will distribute $LL through Fjord Foundry's LBP. Its price decay mechanisms deter whales, while users purchase tokens at a fair price. Currently, Fjord is one of the most popular IDO platforms, with $131M raised in Q1 2024.

READ MORE: LightLink Will Start a Fair $LL Token Distribution this week

📉Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Take A Plunge Amid Strengthening US Dollar— Could Bitcoin Halving Turn the Tables?

Cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday, mainly due to macroeconomic factors and influenced by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's hints at maintaining higher interest rates, leading to a stronger U.S. dollar. The imminent Bitcoin halving, which reduces mining rewards, is also contributing to market volatility.

🏘️How Real-World Assets Will Survive (and Evolve) in the Bull Market

As the crypto market rebounds, real-world assets (RWAs) in decentralized finance (DeFi) are evolving beyond just providing stability during market downturns. They are becoming fundamental components of DeFi, enhancing its maturity and linking it to the traditional financial world.

RWAs offer low-risk, yield-bearing assets ideal for backing stablecoins and diversifying DeFi portfolios. As DeFi grows, RWAs are likely to expand into new areas like non-US sovereign debt and investment-grade bonds, driven by infrastructure built during the bear market and remaining attractive through their regulatory compliance and non-reliance on speculative yields.

This evolution positions RWAs to be a central, sustainable part of DeFi's future infrastructure, appealing to sophisticated investors and traditional financial entities alike.

🌍 ELSEWHERE

• Bitcoin Halving Seen Mostly Priced In by JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank (Bloomberg)
• Avraham 'Avi' Eisenberg convicted for $110 million Mango Markets exploit: report (The Block)
• Aptos Strikes DeFi Partnership With Microsoft, Brevan Howard, SK Telecom (CoinDesk)

🔥 TRENDING

• BlackRock Would Still Pursue Spot Ether ETF If Ethereum Cops Securities Designation
• Pantera-Backed Rollup Omni Network Announces Airdrop
• Runestones Wants to Become the Biggest Memecoin Community, Says Creator
• Pump.Fun Takes Over Solana Memecoin Scene
• Hot New Restaking Project Karak Faces Backlash Over Team’s Past
• Solana Real Estate Protocol Parcl to Airdrop Token Tomorrow
• FTM Rockets As Fantom’s Sonic Upgrade Looms