What happened this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? The most relevant local and international events as well as appealing background reports in a concise and compact weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
The foundation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is built on eliminating centralized intermediaries. Bitcoin supplants central banks with a pre-programmed monetary policy, while smart contract platforms like Ethereum represent financial infrastructure through a decentralized network. Similarly, decentralized exchanges (DEX) allow for the trading of digital assets without a broker. What began gaining momentum in 2019 with the Uniswap protocol today forms a cornerstone of decentralized financial applications (DeFi). Thus, DEXs have expanded across various blockchain networks, with Solana recording the strongest growth over recent months. The leading decentralized exchange on the network, Jupiter, accordingly broke its own volume records. With over $500 million in daily trading volume, the DEX has established itself as a formidable competitor to the pioneer, Uniswap.
A week ago, the Solana DEX Jupiter distributed its own JUP tokens worth several hundred million USD to over one million active users.
Social media on the blockchain
Centralized intermediaries present disadvantages not only in the finance industry. The risks associated with large tech conglomerates, especially in the realm of social media, have been well-known for some time; arbitrary censorship and the opaque exploitation of personal data are just two examples. However, blockchain technology makes it possible to establish an alternative infrastructure for social media. Over the past few years, there have been several experiments in this area, with the Farcaster protocol currently experiencing a surge in popularity.
Farcaster is a decentralized, crypto-native social media network founded by former Coinbase engineers. An overview of the platform.
EU gains ground
In the regulatory sphere, there has been significant progress since the FTX collapse. While the United States struggles with slow progress due to political power struggles within its various agencies, the EU is preparing for the implementation of the groundbreaking Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation. This framework, also known under the acronym MiCA, establishes legal certainty for crypto service providers in the European Economic Area for the first time. An analysis of global market trends and the future of the EU’s crypto ecosystem.
The European crypto market is well-positioned for growth in 2024 following a difficult year for the industry – a glance at the current state.
Exploits plague the industry
Last week, the crypto industry was hit by two exploits. First, an attacker exploited a flaw in the program code of the DeFi protocol Abracadabra, making off with over $7 million in stablecoins, which were quickly liquidated and deposited into a mixer. The Abracadabra team promised to fill the gap with funds from the treasury. The second, more serious attack, targeted Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen. Attackers gained access to a portion of his personal XRP tokens, valued at over $100 million. Some of these were sold before centralized exchanges like Binance froze the wallets.
A summarizing review of what has been happening at the crypto markets of the past week. A weekly report in cooperation with Kaiko.
Exciting January
In addition: January was an eventful month for the crypto markets. The year kicked off with a regulatory milestone for Bitcoin (ETF). Moreover, it became clear macroeconomically that inflation continues to pose significant problems and Europe might be facing a persistent economic downturn. Among the smart contract platforms, Ethereum and Solana were once again able to solidify their positions. And layer 2 platforms are preparing for an important upgrade.
A summarizing monthly review of what’s happening in the crypto markets in cooperation with the Swiss specialist 21Shares AG.
