📉Weekly Recap: Crypto Markets Hit Fresh 2024 Lows

Today we're joined by Mustafa Al-Bassam, CEO and Co-Founder of Celestia Labs.

Celestia provides the ability to publish data and make sure that data is available. Celestia had what many are calling one of the best launches of 2023, and they are the first Data Availability Layer live today.

In our conversation we get into how Mustafa built Celestia, other Data Availability Layers in the space, how Celestia can be thought of as a bulletin board for computers with some cryptographic and economic assurances - computers posting info so everyone can see it.

Prior to Celestia, Mustafa was generally known for his expertise in ethical hacking. He hacked the US government at the age of 16 and was sentenced for it. We get into this and so much more, but first, Mustafa shares what he is focused on at Celestia today.

Joined by Ivan of LobsterDAO, we spoke with Fiskantes, the popular pseudonymous trader and founder of Zee Prime Capital, to discuss the dominant narratives driving the web3 markets.

The discussion explores expectations for the post-Bitcoin ETF landscape, the flourishing Layer 1 scene, Fiskantes' bullish outlook for Polkadot, and his broad predictions for the web3 markets in 2024.

• AltLayer Team Member Denies Insider Trading Allegations On-chain sleuths have accused AltLayer’s head of growth of using inside information to turn a profit of $200,000 from the airdrop.
• TUSD Slides to 3-Year Low as Speculation Mounts Justin Sun is Using it to Cash Out The stablecoin continues to stave off depegging as its market cap sheds millions consistently.
• Transaction Fees on Ethereum Layer 2s Surged 400% Last Year: Report Ethereum mainnet fees dropped 44% in 2023, signaling increased migration to cheaper Layer 2 scaling solutions.

• Onchain Crypto Users Grew By Record 62M in 2023 Ethereum led with 15M acquired users, while Solana picked up 5.6M, according to Flipside Crypto.
• Transaction Fees on Ethereum Layer 2s Surged 400% Last Year Ethereum mainnet fees dropped 44% in 2023, signaling increased migration to cheaper Layer 2 scaling solutions.
• AltLayer's ALT Token Climbs to $360M Market Cap After Launch AltLayer's airdrop is the latest in a wave of tokens in the modular blockchain space.
• Solana-based ‘Rubber’ NFT Collection Soars 50x Generative AI collection of 1,000 NFTs has seen 11,000 SOL of trading volume since launching.
• Elastos Launches Marketplace For ‘Smart Inscriptions’ On Bitcoin Dubbed eScriptions, the marketplace mints inscriptions that enable Layer 2 smart contract functionality on Bitcoin.
• The Proposed IRS Broker Reporting Rules Would Effectively Kill DeFi The IRS's latest crusade into the realm of digital assets threatens to redefine the landscape of decentralized finance (DeFi) with its proposed broker reporting rules.

• Synthetix launches perpetuals on Base The DAO is billing the release of Synthetix Perps V3 as the “first major perpetuals protocol” on Coinbase’s Layer 2 network.
• Ether.fi takes aim at liquid staking leaders with 'deVamp' ‘deVamp’ offers instant eETH liquidity and loyalty points to incentivize EigenLayer restakers to swap out of stETH, cbETH and wBETH.
• Experienced blockchain developers are sticking around: Electric Capital report Blockchain developers with one year of experience or more grew by 16% in 2023.
• NFT-focused RARI Chain launches its mainnet NFT-focused Layer 3 blockchain aims to empower creators with guaranteed royalties.
• Telefonica and Nova Labs introduce Helium mobile hotspots in Mexico Partnership between Telefonica and Nova Labs brings blockchain-based mobile hotspot technology to Mexico.
• Polygon-based Volmex Finance kicks off points program Users of the tokenized volatility protocol can earn points by trading Volmex perpetuals, daily quests, or completing Galxe NFT campaigns.

• Ethereum Software Client Centralization Sparks Concern Alarm bells are ringing as execution client centralization mounts with 84% of nodes running Go Ethereum (Geth).
• UMA and Flashbots launch Oval Oval's mechanism recaptures up to 90% of lost revenue for lending protocols, contributing to the sustainability of decentralized finance.
• AltLayer releases airdrop details Galxe campaign participants and NFT holders will receive over 70% of the 300M ALT tokens allocated to the airdrop.
• Web3 wallet Rabby kicks off points program Metamask Swap users can earn bonus points by switching to the multi-chain DeFi wallet from DeBank.
• FTT briefly surges nearly 20% The FTT token, which was used to access trading discounts on FTX, rallied sharply after it came to light that the bankrupt exchange’s estate had sold over $1B of GBTC.
• Rebuilding Trust in 2024 - The Imperative Role of Privacy in Crypto's Future Privacy, when done correctly, is the natural evolution of the industry's commitment to individual freedom, data security, and transparency.

• Ether.fi TVL Goes Parabolic On EigenLayer Restaking Demand The market capitalization of liquid restaking tokens has surged 140% to $620M in January.
• There Are Now Half a Billion Crypto Holders Globally Global cryptocurrency owners increased 34% in 2023, according to Crypto.com.
• Ethereum Foundation Sells $1.6M Of ETH Ether dropped 4% after blockchain observers flagged a $1.6M sale of ETH for DAI by the Foundation.
• Developers Race To Bring EVM Functionality To Bitcoin Several teams are working to deliver EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 networks.