🐶 Who Let the Dogwifhat Out?
In today’s edition: 🧑💻 Blobs are unleashed on ETH mainnet, 🤑 L2 fee savings galore, 🚦SEC gets green light to pursue Gemini Earn case, and more!
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Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. In this weeks episode the squad asks: Is MakerDAO setting a new precedent for DeFi protocols with its emergency rate hike? How significant is the role of meme coins in the crypto market’s volatility, and what does Solana’s prominence tell us about the future of blockchain platforms? Can Ethereum maintain its position as the backbone of DeFi amidst the growing competition from layer 1 and layer 2 solutions?
This episode delves deep into the whirlwind discussions surrounding MakerDAO’s sudden monetary policy adjustments, scrutinizing the balance between stability and adaptability in DeFi’s fast-paced world. We explore the fascinating, yet often speculative, universe of meme coins, highlighting their impact on network activity and public perception of cryptocurrency’s value. The conversation also navigates the evolving landscape of Ethereum as it faces challenges and opportunities in scalability and functionality. Join us as we tackle these thought-provoking questions, armed with Robert Leshner’s expertise, to peel back the layers of complexity surrounding DeFi strategies, the meme coin craze, and Ethereum’s strategic positioning. Tune in for a captivating session aimed at decoding these trends and offering insights into their potential to redefine the contours of the crypto ecosystem.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sage Young, Jacob Oliver and Sam Sriram
Crypto Enthusiasts Raise Nearly $690,000 to Put Dogwifhat Meme on Las Vegas Sphere
Crypto enthusiasts have raised funds to display a picture of a Shiba Inu puppy wearing a pink beanie, representing the meme coin Dogwifhat, on the world’s largest spherical structure in Las Vegas.
Dencun Day One: Ethereum Layer 2 Networks See Drastic Drop in Transaction Fees
Some Ethereum layer 2 networks have seen their median transaction fees decline by as much as 99% after the Dencun upgrade went live.
L2 Network Blast Suffers Outage Related to Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade
The layer 2 blockchain network Blast, which has nearly $3 billion in total locked value, stopped producing blocks minutes after Ethereum activated its hard fork Dencun upgrade. But it was back up a little more than an hour later.
Ethereum Completes Milestone Dencun Upgrade, Which Should Substantially Reduce Fees
Layer 2 blockchain networks can now use blobs, which is a different way to store data in the network. This new data type is intended to help these rollups scale the Ethereum blockchain network, which has been plagued by huge spikes in gas fees in years prior.
Court Denies Genesis, Gemini’s Motion to Dismiss SEC Suit
A U.S. District Court judge ruled on Wednesday that the agency’s allegations against crypto exchange Gemini and bankrupt crypto lender Genesis were plausible enough to proceed to court.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🇳🇬 Two Binance executives, who were detained by Nigerian government officials two weeks ago, will remain in custody until at least through March 20 when a hearing will take place. Both executives have not been charged with any crimes, but the Nigerian government has accused Binance, their employer, of processing untraceable funds.
🧐 The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating $165 million worth of crypto transactions that may have helped finance Hamas prior to its Oct. 7 attack against Israel. The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (finCEN), however, noted that the figure may be overstated due to the way financial institutions file suspicious activity reports.
📱 Telegram, the crypto industry’s favorite messaging platform, is launching an ad platform next month that will allow channel owners to receive financial rewards in the form of toncoin (TON). Channel owners will receive 50% of all revenue the company makes from displaying ads within their channels.
🇪🇺 The European Union has published draft regulatory standards for issuers of stablecoins as part of the MICA regulatory framework.
🖼️ The floor price for the top five NFT collections have plummeted within the past week, while monthly trading volumes on Ethereum-based NFT marketplaces have fallen since the beginning of the year.
📈 Ethereum rescaling protocol Swell launched a layer 2 rollup that already has $1 billion in total value locked (TVL). Swell’s founder Daniel Dizon told Coindesk that a restaked rollup is “the next logical step” for the project.
👩⚖️ A judge ruled that Terraform Labs can retain its lawyers in its bankruptcy proceedings despite the SEC’s objections. The law firm also agreed to return $48 million back to Terraform Labs, an amount that was pre-paid to the law firm to work on the case.
😕 Cryptocurrency platform Bakkt is at risk of being delisted from New York Stock Exchange because its average closing price has remained under $1 over a consecutive 30-day trading period, which is in violation of the stock exchange’s rules.
Today in crypto adoption…
🇿🇦 South Africa’s financial regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, is set to award licenses to 60 crypto firms by the end of this month. Crypto companies that wanted to operate in the country had to apply for the license by June 1, 2023, and 300 companies applied.
The $$$ Corner…
🤑 ClearToken has raised $10 million to build a cryptocurrency clearing house from investors such as Laser Digital, GSR and Flow Traders.
⛔️ Crypto exchange Crypto.com was fined $3.1 million by the Dutch Central Bank for failing to register with the central bank for two years, breaking money laundering and terrorism financing laws.
💸 Software company MicroStrategy is selling another $500 million in debt to institutional investors to support its purchases of bitcoin, the company already sold $800 million in debt last week.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Franklin Templeton: The Value Between Meme Coins and Their Native Networks
Coindesk: Why Prime Brokers Could Be a Source of Crypto Contagion
Venture investor Li Jin on What about the path forward for consumer crypto?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 0.1% trading at $73,188
ETH is down 1.7% trading at $3,797
BTC dominance: 49.4%
Crypto market cap: $2.9T
*All data as of today, 06:29 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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