Happy Juneteenth to all our readers in the U.S.! Today, we have a condensed version of The Protocol for you, showcasing the latest news in blockchain technology and highlighting some key updates from the past week’s Protocol Village column.
Let’s dive into the news:
Martin Shkreli and $DJT: Is there a connection to Donald Trump? Recently, Martin Shkreli, also known as “Pharma Bro,” claimed to be behind the DJT token after initially denying any involvement. This token, which gained popularity for its supposed links to Donald Trump and his son Barron, caused a stir in the crypto community. Despite Shkreli’s denial, blockchain investigators found connections between DJT’s Telegram channel and a token supported by Shkreli, leading to speculation and a $150,000 bounty to uncover the token’s creator.
Kraken’s security breach: Crypto exchange Kraken reported that security researchers exploited a bug to withdraw nearly $3 million from inflated account balances, refusing to return the funds as part of the Bug Bounty program. Kraken’s Chief Security Officer called this act extortion and has involved law enforcement in the matter.
Consensys cleared by SEC: Consensys, the company behind the MetaMask wallet, received letters from the SEC stating that the investigation into Ethereum 2.0 has been closed with no enforcement action recommended. This news caused a rise in the price of ether (ETH) and provided some relief to the crypto community.
UwU Lend exploit leads to liquidations on Curve: An exploit on UwU Lend triggered a chain of events that resulted in significant liquidations on DeFi lending platform Curve. Representatives for the project’s founder, Michael Egorov, shared insights into the incident.
Coinbase launches pre-launch markets: Coinbase introduced support for pre-launch markets on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced for users in eligible jurisdictions. This move allows for seamless transition into standard perpetual futures contracts once the underlying token is launched on spot exchanges.
Tether debuts new token minting platform: Tether, the company behind the $110 billion stablecoin USDT, launched Alloy, a platform on the Ethereum network for creating tokens collateralized by Tether’s tokenized gold (XAUT).
In the Protocol Village highlights from the past week:
1. Mysten Labs unveiled “Walrus,” a decentralized data-storage platform offering cost-effective storage and high availability.
2. Ronin, a gaming-focused blockchain, announced a new zkEVM to support more users and game studio partners.
3. Polkadot’s governance approved the JAM protocol for future architecture, aiming to enhance scalability and flexibility in blockchain applications.
4. Arcana Network introduced the Chain Abstraction protocol to streamline crypto asset management across multiple blockchains.
5. Minima collaborated with Influx Technology to integrate a data tracker into a McLaren GT4, enhancing racing performance and preventing cheating.
In the Money Center section:
– Liquid restaking protocol Renzo raised $17 million to expand restaking services.
– CARV raised $34 million in community-backed sales for its verifier node offering.
– Sonic, a gaming-focused layer-2 blockchain, secured $12 million in a fundraising round.
– Bondex, a Web3 professional network, raised over $10 million in investment rounds.
That’s all from The Protocol today. Stay tuned for more updates in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.