🚀 Weekly Recap: Crypto Rallies On Fed Rate Cut

Happy weekend Defiers!

Cryptocurrencies soared this week after the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by 50 basis points and the Bank of Japan left its rates unchanged.

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum gained close to 5% over the past seven days, while the combined crypto market cap is up 8% from its mid-week low. Alt Layer 1s are also staging a comeback, with many L1 tokens posting double-digit gains on the week.

Several projects unveiled new products at the Token2049 conference in Singapore. Notable examples include Solana Mobile demoing its second web3 phone, Seeker, BitGo announcing plans to launch a stablecoin in January, and Sky (formerly MakerDAO) shipping its new dApp and tokens.

The Solana Breakpoint conference also kicked off this week, with Jump Crypto launching its Frankendancer client on testnet and Sky announcing plans for a Solana expansion.

Ethereum’s core developers have agreed to deploy its upcoming Pectra upgrade over two forks. The upgrade will prime Ethereum for verkle trees, improve staking functionality and EVM execution, and introduce smart account features for regular EOA wallets.

Silvergate Bank dropped a bombshell in its bankruptcy filings. The defunct crypto-friendly bank said it was forced to shut down due to the suspected Operation Chokepoint 2.0 regulator campaign, rather than insolvency.

In other regulatory news, a restaurant reached a $750,000 settlement with the SEC over its NFT-based membership program following an enforcement action that garnered dissent from some of the SEC’s own commissioners.

World Liberty Financial, the upcoming DeFi project from the Trump family, announced it will soon conduct a token sale. However, the project’s non-transferable governance tokens will only be available for accredited U.S. investors to purchase.

Major TradFi institutions continue to back web3, with BlackRock praising Bitcoin as a vehicle for portfolio diversification. Moody’s, the global credit rating agency, also lauded DePIN as potentially being the future of physical infrastructure.

Memecoin mania continues to stoke drama, with Binance facing accusations of insider trading after the exchange purportedly listed the “wrong” token and sent an obscure memecoin flying by 800%. The incident came as CZ, Binance’s former CEO, will be released from jail next week.

Flappy Bird, a mobile game that amassed 50 million downloads in two years before being pulled from app stores in 2014, is set to make a comeback on The Open Network (TON). Catizen, one of TON’s largest games, also launched its airdrop, with CATI trading at a $1 billion fully diluted valuation.

Plus, Worldcoin launches facial recognition verification, Fractal Bitcoin’s FB token crashes amid backlash, SynFutures launches leveraged election futures, Starknet greenlights dynamic staking, and Polkadot ships Agile Coretime as part of its 2.0 roadmap.

Also, don’t forget to check out our podcast with Joe Lubin, the co-founder of Consensys, to get his outlook on the Ethereum ecosystem.

Enjoy!

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MEDIA PARTNERSHIP

Vitalik: An Ethereum Story is NOW STREAMING!

The Defiant sat down with Zach Ingrasci and Carrie Weprin, the director and producer behind the documentary film Vitalik: An Ethereum Story. This film, a testament to the power of community and the transformative potential of blockchain technology, offers a captivating glimpse into the Ethereum ecosystem — focusing on the enigmatic leader Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. The film's release is particularly poignant as it coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the Ethereum whitepaper, which Vitalik famously penned in Toronto, the very city where the film recently premiered to two sold-out screenings.

Read More: Vitalik: An Ethereum Story - Feature Documentary Film

DEFI ALPHA

Getting Started with Coinbase’s cbBTC

Our resident DeFi degens walk you through how to earn yield from the rapidly growing DeFi ecosystem for Coinbase’s newly launched cbBTC token.

Plus, they share their technical analysis, examining the latest price action and market moves.

PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

Building the Future of Ethereum: Joe Lubin on Consensys, Layer 2 Scaling, and Regulatory Challenges

In this week’s podcast, Cami Russo was joined by Joe Lubin, Consensys, an Ethereum-focused software development company.

In the discussion, Lubin, who also co-founded Ethereum, explores the evolution of blockchain technology and the expanding role of the Ethereum ecosystem. He also discusses Consensys' work to build core infrastructure for Ethereum, such as MetaMask and Infura, and the company’s strategic direction moving forward. Joe also touches on the regulatory challenges posed by the SEC and the broader implications for the industry, and shares his vision for web3 scalability and decentralization.

Friday

• Silvergate Bank Shut Down Because Of Operation Choke Point 2.0, Not Insolvency Silvergate’s bankruptcy filings attribute the bank's failure to regulators cracking down on its ability to service the crypto industry.
• Ethereum’s Next Pectra Upgrade To Take Place Over Two Forks Ethereum’s developers are gearing up for the network’s next major upgrade.
• SynFutures Launches Leverages Perps Tracking Polymarket Election Markets The launch pushes SynFutures into the fast-growing prediction markets sector dominated by Polymarket.
• Sky Preps for Solana Expansion Sky (MakerDAO) plans to launch its tokens on the Solana network.
• Swipe-to-Earn Telegram Game ‘Catizen’ Airdrops CATI Token The CATI token is trading at a fully diluted valuation of $1 billion.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum Surge after BoJ Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged Today’s top gainers include Sui, Aptos and Bittensor.
• Fractal Bitcoin Divides Community as Token Craters Some Bitcoin community members accuse the project of utilizing a “poisonous mining incentive structure.”
• Iggy Azalea to Launch Crypto Casino Integrating MOTHER ‘Motherland’ will enter the competitive crypto gambling space dominated by Stake.

Thursday

• Runescape-Inspired MMO Cambria Announces Expansion to Ronin Network After a successful NFT mint, the game announced it would launch its Early Alpha phase on Blast and Ronin.
• Polkadot Introduces Agile Coretime to Enhance Network Efficiency Polkadot is making progress on rolling out its 2.0 roadmap with the launch of Agile Coretime.
• Token2049 Roundup: Solana Seeker, BitGo Stablecoin, and More The Token2049 conference in Singapore featured major product announcements, including Solana's Seeker phone, BitGo’s USDS stablecoin, and Sky’s new tokens.
• SAGA Rallies 75% as Altcoin Market Recovers Saga Network is leading the recent alt-Layer 1 surge.
• Bitcoin Rallies Above $63,000 Following Fed Rate Cut The total crypto market capitalization rallied 6% after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates.
• BlackRock Calls Bitcoin ‘Unique Diversifier’ in Research Paper The world’s largest asset manager praised Bitcoin as a vehicle for portfolio diversification.
• Aave Community Opposes Offboarding WBTC Despite Looming Restructure Aave’s community is pushing back against a proposal to prevent users from taking out new WBTC loans.
• Worldcoin Pilots ‘Face Auth’ Account Verification To Prevent Fraud Worldcoin users will be able to confirm their World IDs through facial recognition by taking a selfie on their mobile device.
• Rari Capital Settles With SEC Over Unregistered Offerings The SEC alleges that Rari Capital operated as an unregistered broker and sold unlicensed securities.

Wednesday

• Moody’s Touts DePIN as Promising Approach to Infrastructure The DePIN sector has outperformed in 2024, led by projects like Helium and Render Network.
• Crypto Markets Drop Ahead of Fed Decision Bitcoin and Ethereum slipped 3% and 2% despite expectations The Fed will cut interest rates.
• Hemi Labs Closes $15 Million Funding Round Led By Breyer Capital and Binance Hemi Network aims to support applications that interact with both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• Sky Completes Rebrand By Launching New dApp and Tokens Sky’s new dApp is live, and users can migrate their MKR and DAI tokens to SKY and USDS.
• GFX Labs Petitions Optimism To Hasten Decentralization The proposal calls for a three-phase transfer of Optimism’s system powers and resources to OP holders.
• Google Cloud Launches Blockchain RPC Service For Ethereum Google Cloud said it will integrate support for additional blockchain networks next year.

Tuesday

• Vitalik May Not Love DeFi, But He Certainly Uses It The Ethereum co-founder’s public wallets reveal 213 DEX transactions since 2015 worth $71 million and $9.2 million deposited across major DeFi protocols.
• TON Foundation Partners With Curve on Stable Swap Project The TON Foundation will leverage Curve’s market maker model to optimize stablecoin swaps.
• ‘Good Tech’ Leads Altcoin Bounce Layer 1 tokens TIA, SUI, FTM, TAO, and XRP are among the largest gainers over the last week.
• Hit Mobile Game Flappy Bird Launches Crypto-based Comeback A web3 team is reviving the Flappy Bird IP ten years after the game was pulled from app stores.
• Crypto Markets Rally After U.S. Retail Sales Beat Expectations Crypto markets are edging higher as investors anticipate a rate cut from the Federal Reserve tomorrow.
• EigenLayer Expands Roster Of Restakable Assets With tBTC Integration The move follows EigenLayer launching support for EIGEN in May.
• Hedera Launches Asset Tokenization Studio Amid Global RWA Push The move comes as more than 40 firms joined the Bank for International Settlements’ tokenization initiative, Project Agorá.
• Trump Family’s World Liberty Financial Announces Token Sale The sale will distribute 63% of the non-transferable WLFI token's supply to U.S.-based accredited investors.
• DeGods Make All NFTs Equal After Claiming Existing Model is ‘Communist’ The controversial move allows holders to convert their Degods NFTs, Y00ts NFTs, and $DUST tokens into a new official token dubbed $DEGOD.
• Restaurant Settles Controversial SEC Action Over NFT Membership Program SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda dissented against the enforcement action.

Monday

• Binance Accused of Insider Trading After Listing the ‘Wrong’ Memecoin NEIRO pumped by more than 10x on the listing, before plummeting 40% after Binance announced its purported mistake.
• Market Recap: ETH/BTC At Multi-Year Low, Bernstein Bullish On DeFi The ETH/BTC ratio slumped under 0.04, its lowest level since April 2021.
• Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao Set to Be Released Next Week CZ’s four-month prison sentence will end on September 29.
• Degens Throw In-Flight Party En Route to Token2049 Videos surfaced of Token2049 attendees flying from Dubai to Singapore partying at 30,000 ft.
• DeltaPrime’s TVL Crashes 40% After $6M Exploit A hacker compromised the admin keys for DeltaPrime's Arbitrum deployment.
• Circle Plans To Relocate Headquarters To New York The news comes despite Circle recently criticizing U.S. crypto regulations.
• Soneium Integrates Support For Bridged USDC The integration paves the way for a native USDC deployment on Soneium in the future.

TRENDING

• Crypto Markets Plunge after August Jobs Report Misses Expectations
• Vitalik Plans To Donate ERC-20 Holdings and Cease Investing In Web3 Projects
• Short-term Bitcoin Holders’ Unrealized Losses Are Piling Up: Glassnode
• VISTA Token Surges 40x as EtherVista Aims to Create a Rugpull-Free Memecoin Launchpad
• EigenLayer Reveals Details of Second EIGEN Stakedrop
• Behind-the-Scenes in Argentina’s Crypto Scene Now that the Aleph Pop-Up City is Over