👀Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Flirts With All-Time High

Happy weekend Defiers!

The price of Bitcoin came within 3% of setting new all-time highs above $73,738 amid a spate of sustained bullish momentum. BTC’s upward trajectory was driven by a surge in demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which hosted more than $800 million in daily inflows twice including the second-highest inflow on record.

However, BTC has since pulled back to $70,580 as markets brace for the U.S. presidential election.

The election season continues to influence web3, with Polymarket’s monthly trade volume rocketing to $2.28 billion — beating out its previous record by 353%. While election wagering accounts for more than 80% of activity on the platform, its non-election markets are also enjoying all-time highs.

Florida’s chief financial officer wants to increase the state’s crypto exposure from $800 million should Trump win the election. The CFO is also looking to add cryptocurrency to the assets back Florida’s state pension fund.

Despite analysts tipping a Trump victory would be bullish for web3, the Trump-linked WLFI token sale continues to lose steam. World Liberty Financial reduced its fundraising target by 90% after investors bought less than 5% of the token’s original allocation after more than two weeks.

Layoffs are sweeping the crypto sector once again, with Consensys downsizing by 20%, dYdX culling its core team by 35%, and Kraken shedding 15% of its workforce.

Memecoin mania wages on, with volume Solana’s Raydium DEX soaring to new heights as degens chase new tokens.

Three Arrowz Capitel, an on-chain fund claiming connections with 3AC’s founders, is going all in on memecoins. Coinbase is getting in on the action with the launch of a no-code platform allowing users to deploy AI Agents on Base. However, some AI memecoins are pumping and dumping over the course of just a few days.

Base launched fault proofs on mainnet as the booming Layer 2 closes in on Stage 1 decentralization. The importance of Stage 1 decentralization was showcased by dYdX v3 sunsetting, with validity proofs allowing users to withdraw the more than $100M still locked in its contracts despite the appchain winding down.

Coinbase announced plans to buy back $1 billion worth of COIN shares. However, Coinbase’s Q3 revenue and earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Wellington Management, a trillion-dollar asset manager, is teaming up with Ondo to launch an on-chain U.S. treasuries fund. Solayer also launched a stablecoin backed by tokenized treasuries on Solana.

Plus, Synthetix proposes Kwenta acquisition, Circle unveils “Confidential ERC-20” standard, the Ethereum Foundation is exploring outsourcing staking its ETH, and Zircuit airdrops ZRC to 190,000 EIGEN holders.

Also, don’t forget to check out our podcast with Nana Murugesan, the president of Matter Labs — the team behind ZKsync.

Enjoy!

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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

ZKsync 3.0: Elastic Chain and the Future of Scalable Web3 with Matter Labs’ Nana Murugesan

In this week’s podcast, Cami Russo was joined by Nana Murugesan, the president of Matter Labs and former VP of Business Development at Coinbase,

Murugesan shares the latest updates from ZKsync, including its recently launched Elastic Chain. He explains how ZKsync’s approach to interoperability and customization aims to make Web3 infrastructure as seamless as Web2, emphasizing the importance of user-friendly experiences for mainstream adoption.

Nana also highlights Matter Labs' partnership with Buenos Aires to bring ZK-backed digital identity to millions of citizens, showcasing a promising model for government and Web3 collaboration. Finally, he shares upcoming milestones for ZKsync, including collaborations in Latin America, gaming, and the creator economy.

Chainlink's Pivotal Role in Bridging DeFi and Traditional Finance | ChainlinkGod (Zach Rynes)

The Defiant spoke to Zach Rynes, formerly known as Chainlink God, a prominent Chainlink community liaison and advocate.

Rynes reflects on Chainlink’s evolution and its role as a bridge between DeFi and traditional finance, highlighting how the project enables institutions to connect securely with public blockchain ecosystems. Zach shares his experiences in building a strong online presence and the strategic reasons behind doxxing his identity. He also expresses optimism for the crypto industry's future, emphasizing the convergence of institutional and blockchain ecosystems and the continued maturation of crypto technology and infrastructure.

Redefining Financial Access: Ruben Galindo on How AirTM Empowers Global Communities with Crypto

The Defiant sat down with Ruben Galindo, the co-founder and CEO of AirTM, a company connecting banking and e-money networks all over the world via its technology platform and P2P network.

In the interview, Galindo explains how AirTM combines digital assets and peer-to-peer networks to provide reliable cross-border payment solutions, enabling people to circumvent mainstream extractive exchange rates. Ruben explores how blockchain technology could revolutionize financial access, particularly for the rapidly growing online workforce.

Friday

• Crypto Market Volatility Triggers $190M in Liquidations Bitcoin dipped to $69,000 on Friday.
• IMX Token Plummets After Immutable Receives Wells Notice The blockchain gaming project is the latest crypto company to be targeted by the SEC this year.
• Developers Are Leaving the United States and Europe for Asia Asia is now the leading location for blockchain developers.
• Florida May Increase Crypto Holdings From $800M If Trump Wins A growing number of U.S. states are adding Bitcoin ETF shares to their pension funds.
• Monthly Polymarket Volume Soars To $2.28 Billion As Election Looms An uptick in non-election betting suggests Polymarket may still enjoy significant adoption after the election.
• Trumps’ WLFI Sale Target Slashed By 90% Amid Weak Demand Galaxy Digital noted that World Liberty Financial is currently “more of an idea than a protocol.”

Thursday

• Bitcoin Dips Despite ETFs Attracting Nearly $900 Million Institutional interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs has continued to surge.
• Student Launches Solana Memecoin from Samsung Fridge in Mall The FRIDGE token reached a $9 million market capitalization on Oct. 29 but has since plunged 80%.
• Binance Co-Founder CZ Returns to Spotlight After Prison Release Zhao was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
• Zircuit Airdrops ZRC To 190,000 EIGEN Holders Airdrop recipients will receive the same number of ZRC, regardless of the value of their EIGEN holdings.
• Base Ships Fault Proofs In Bid For Stage 1 Decentralization Anyone can now propose or challenge Base state roots for mainnet validation.
• Memecoin Speculators Push ZachXBT’s Free NFTs to $12 Million Market Cap The commemorative ‘Investigations’ NFT is interchangeable with an ERC20 token.
• Aragon Announces New Foundation to Help Steer the DAO Management Project The foundation council will feature established builders from the Ethereum community, including Polygon co-founder Sandeep and Sacha from Lido.
• Coinbase Announces $1 Billion Share Buyback and Q3 Earnings Coinbase’s Q3 revenue rose 81% year-over-year to $1.13 billion but missed the $1.26 billion forecast by analysts.

Wednesday

• Ondo Finance Partners with Trillion Dollar Wellington Management The asset management group will launch an on-chain fund backed by U.S. treasuries.
• Solayer Launches RWA-Backed Stablecoin, sUSD The U.S Treasury Bill-backed stablecoin is the first RWA synthetic stablecoin.
• Bitcoin Dips after Testing All-Time High The global cryptocurrency market cap is down 1.6% to $2.52 trillion in the past 24 hours.
• DYdX Slashes Workforce By 35% Despite Bullish Crypto Market DYdX is currently gearing up to launch its Unlimited upgrade.
• Stacks Unlocks Fast Blocks and ‘Bitcoin Finality’ With Nakamoto Upgrade The long-awaited upgrade also paves the way for the launch of Stacks’ sBTC token.
• Coinbase Integrates Support For Visa Direct The news comes as Coinbase is looking to reclaim USD market share from Crypto.com.
• Synthetix Proposes Acquiring Kwenta From Tokenholders Kwenta has driven $60 billion worth of trade since spinning out of Synthetix in 2020.

Tuesday

• Three Arrows Capital’s Supposed Spin-Off Goes All in On Pump and Dumps A new Three Arrows Capital (3AC) with tenuous connections to Su Zhu and Kyle Davies is going all in on memecoins.
• Consensys Lays Off 20% of Staff Citing Economic Challenges The blockchain software company is behind major projects like Metamask, Infura, and the Linea Layer 2 network.
• Bitcoin Approaches All-time High Amid Torrid ETF Inflows BTC hit an intraday high of $72,888 as Ethereum and Solana surged 7% and 5%, respectively.
• Google Cloud Teams Up With Mantra On Infrastructure and RWA Accelerator The news comes after Mantra’s OM token rallied 6,550% year-to-date.
• Coinbase Unveils Platform For Deploying AI Agents As Boom Continues The news comes as degens are racing to copy the trades of AI agents on X.
• Circle and Inco Unveil Confidential ERC-20 Standard To Bolster Privacy The token standard conceals the account balances and transfer values of transaction counterparties.

Monday

• Solana DEX Raydium Processes All-time High Daily Volume The Solana-based decentralized exchange is among the primary beneficiaries of the “memecoin supercycle.”
• AI Memecoin Frenzy Cools, Sparking ‘Flight to Quality’ $GOAT and AI Agent NFTs are holding strong, while the other tokens plummet.
• Altcoins Lag as Bitcoin Flirts With $69,000 Bitcoin dominance hit 59.85%, its highest level since March 2021.
• DYdX V3's TVL Is $100M As Shutdown Begins — But Users Can Still Withdraw DYdX v3 sunsetting illustrates the importance of Layer 2s realizing Stage 1 decentralization.
• Lamborghini Taps Base For Revuelto NFT Mint Lamborghini has teamed up with Animoca Brands for its latest NFT project.
• Ethereum Foundation Is Exploring Staking Its ETH The Ethereum Foundation’s recent ETH sales have irked the project’s community.

TRENDING

• Student Launches Solana Memecoin from Samsung Fridge in Mall
• Zircuit Airdrops ZRC To 190,000 EIGEN Holders
• Base Ships Fault Proofs In Bid For Stage 1 Decentralization
• Memecoin Speculators Push ZachXBT’s Free NFTs to $12 Million Market Cap
• Coinbase Announces $1 Billion Share Buyback and Q3 Earnings
• Ondo Finance Partners with Trillion Dollar Wellington Management