Weekly Project Updates: Celestia Mainnet Goes Live, Starknet Distributes 50 Million Tokens, OpenSea Announces Staff Reduction by Half, etc

Nov 04, 2023

1. Modular Blockchain Celestia Mainnet Goes Live link

On October 31st, Celestia successfully deployed its mainnet test version, marking the launch of its modular network. The mainnet test version, codenamed Lemon Mint, introduces Data Availability Sampling (DAS). The Celestia mainnet test version will enable Rollup and other modular chains to utilize Celestia for data availability and consensus. With the launch of the Celestia mainnet, its native token TIA was also created and listed on multiple major exchanges. As of the time of writing, TIA is trading at approximately $2.4, with a total token supply of 1 billion and a fully diluted valuation of around $2.4 billion, which is lower than other mainstream L2 tokens.

2. Starknet Launches Early Community Member Program with Distribution of 50 Million STRK Tokens link

On October 31st, the Starknet Foundation announced the Starknet Early Community Member Program (ECMP), dedicated to distributing 50 million STRK tokens to early ecosystem contributors. This includes rewarding individuals who encourage technical discussions, organize Starknet-related events, and regularly publish Starknet brand content. Individuals and projects will be required to apply for grants and provide detailed information about their contributions. The application window will remain open until November 23, 2023, with the final decisions expected to be made by December 29th.

3. OpenSea Announces Staff Reduction by Half, CEO Unveils New Strategic Direction link

On November 4th, the NFT marketplace OpenSea announced a significant workforce reduction, cutting half of its employees. CEO Devin Finzer stated that this move is part of the company’s transition to the “OpenSea 2.0” strategy. The new strategy will focus on upgrading product technology, reliability, speed, quality, and user experience. The affected employees will receive benefits including four months of severance pay. Additionally, the company’s structure will become more streamlined, with a reduction in middle management. This round of layoffs is a strategic adjustment by OpenSea in response to a decline in its market share, which dropped from 73% in October 2022 to 18% on November 3, 2023.

4. XRP Gets Approval from Dubai Financial Services Authority for Use in Dubai International Financial Centre link

On November 2nd, Ripple announced that the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has approved the use of XRP within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Virtual asset companies licensed within the DIFC will now be able to include XRP in their virtual asset services. Previously, BTC, ETH, and LTC had already been approved under the DFSA virtual asset framework.

5. WorldAPP Announces Over One Million Monthly Active Users link

On November 2nd, Worldcoin Wallet WorldAPP announced that it currently boasts more than 1 million monthly active users, 4 million downloads, and over 22 million transaction counts, solidifying its position as the sixth most popular hot wallet globally. Additionally, it has more than 100,000 daily active users and over 500,000 weekly active users.

6. Radiant Capital Announces Ethereum Mainnet Launch link

On October 31st, the cross-chain lending protocol Radiant Capital announced via a Twitter post that it has been launched on the Ethereum network and will undergo deployment within 72 hours. Previously, in July, Binance Labs had invested $10 million in Radiant Capital, with the financing aimed at facilitating its deployment on the Ethereum mainnet.

7. UniSat: brc20-swap to Support 14 Assets in the Initial Mainnet Launch Phase link

On October 30th, UniSat brc20-swap announced its initial launch on the mainnet with a “black module” status, which comes with certain withdrawal restrictions. For a given asset, withdrawals from within the module are only possible when there are deposits from external users. Additionally, they have established clear criteria for asset selection: assets must have had at least 15 days of trading activity on the UniSat Marketplace in the past 30 days to be included. As a result, brc20-swap will initially support 14 assets, including sats, ordi, trac, oshi, btcs, oxbt, texo, cncl, meme, honk, zbit, vmpx, pepe, and mxrc. brc20-swap is the first native Swap on the Bitcoin mainnet, utilizing the brc20 protocol as its underlying asset infrastructure.

According to OKX Wallet market data, with the recent launch of UniSat brc20-swap this week, Bitcoin Ordinals BRC-20 tokens have experienced significant price increases in the past 7 days. Sats saw a surge of 124%, BTCs increased by 30%, honk soared by 300%, and ordi rose by 13%. Of particular note is the market capitalization of sats, which reached approximately $166 million, surpassing ordi (around $130 million), making it the BRC-20 token with the highest market capitalization.

8. Connext Issues Call for Unified Open Cross-Chain Bridge Standards link

On the 30th of October, Connext issued a call for a unified open cross-chain bridge standard, expressing concerns about LayerZero deploying a proprietary standard for wstETH on Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Scroll without the support of Lido DAO. The core points of this declaration include: 1)Proprietary standards locked by suppliers are not true standards. Entities like OFT and other specific suppliers essentially have ownership of these cross-chain bridges, making it impossible for projects to iterate based on their preferences. 2)Locking in introduces systemic risks, as tokens issued through proprietary standards will forever be bound to the security model of the cross-chain bridge. 3)Token issuers should possess their own tokens. The DAO responsible for token issuance should act as the ultimate arbitrator, determining which version of an asset exists on a specific chain. 4)Open, supplier-neutral standards encourage healthy competition. For instance, EIP-7281 (i.e., ERC-20) redefines the incentive structure of cross-chain bridges, allowing token issuers to have the ultimate decision-making authority while avoiding locking. The cross-chain bridges that have signed this declaration include ChainSafe, Sygma, LI FI, Socket, Across, Celer, and Router.

9. Aragon Association Announces Dissolution, Deploys 86,000 ETH for ANT Holder Redemption link

On November 3rd, the Swiss nonprofit organization Aragon Association announced its dissolution and offered users the opportunity to exchange their native token ANT for ETH. Users can exchange their ANT for ETH at a fixed rate of 0.0025376 ETH per ANT, and they must complete this exchange before November 2, 2024. After redemption, all ANT tokens will be destroyed. Aragon has already deployed a redemption contract on the Ethereum mainnet with 86,343 ETH allocated for redemption. The association will retain $11 million in funds to cover the costs associated with its dissolution and to hedge against regulatory uncertainties.

10. Dune Announces Launch of DuneAI for Querying Blockchain Data Using Natural Language link

On November 2nd, the blockchain data retrieval platform Dune announced the launch of DuneAI. It allows users to pose questions in natural language, in any language, without needing to know SQL. They can then obtain insights into cryptocurrency data. According to their official documentation, Dune currently supports data retrieval from chains such as Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, including EVM-compatible chains.

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