DeFi & L1L2 Weekly – 🚀 Cronos zkEVM Passage campaign was launched; PYUSD surpassed US$500 millon market cap

Cronos launches Cronos zkEVM Passage to reward users for bridging assets to Cronos zkEVM. PayPal’s PYUSD surpasses US$500 million market cap. ZKsync unveils Elastic Chain ecosystem, which Cronos zkEVM joins.

Weekly DeFi Index

The market capitalisation index was negative at –11.75%, while the volume and volatility indices were positive at +32.67% and +58.04% respectively.

• Fidelity and digital asset bank Sygnum partnered with Chainlink to bring net asset value (NAV) data on-chain. The partnership aims to provide transparency and accessibility for NAV data in tokenised assets.
• Decentralised exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch Labs launched the 1inch Developer Portal, which includes a new Web3 RPC API tool for Web3 developers. The tool allows developers to interact with the blockchain without needing to run their own nodes, simplifying blockchain access for developers building applications.

Chart of the Week

PayPal‘s U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, surpassed a US$500 million market cap following its expansion to the Solana network in May 2024. PYUSD’s total market supply has more than doubled since its launch in August 2023, reaching over 533 million tokens as of 9 July 2024. In the past month alone, PYUSD’s supply has increased by 84%, rising from 272 million to around 500 million tokens.

This growth has been driven by PYUSD’s integration with the Solana blockchain, where it now accounts for 25.2% of the total supply ($134.5 million). The remaining 399 million PYUSD tokens are on the Ethereum network.

PYUSD’s adoption by exchanges like Crypto.com and integration into DeFi protocols like Curve and Frax have also contributed to its rapid growth.

News Highlights

• Cronos launched Cronos zkEVM Passage to reward users for bridging assets to Cronos zkEVM. Users who lock CRO or LCRO into the Cronos zkEVM bridge earn points for the Cronos zkEVM Pioneer Program. Users’ CRO/LCRO will be converted to zkCRO and locked until Cronos zkEVM launch (expected Q3). Early CRO depositors will receive zkCRO for mainnet usage, earn staking yield, and accrue more pioneer points. 
• ZKsync unveiled its Elastic Chain ecosystem after the 3.0 upgrade. Elastic Chain is an interconnected ecosystem of Layer-2 (L2) rollups using ZKsync’s ZK Stack tech. It aims to overcome Ethereum’s liquidity fragmentation across expanding L2/L3 networks. Elastic Chain supports account abstraction, allowing users to onboard via FaceID or Passkeys, bypassing the need for seed phrases. Additionally, Cronos zkEVM announced the joining of Elastic Chain.
• The TON Application Chain (TAC), an L2 network built on top of the TON (Telegram Open Network), announced a partnership with Polygon Labs to bring Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality to the TON ecosystem. This integration will allow for the deployment of EVM-compatible decentralised applications (dapps) on the TON network, including DeFi, gaming, and identity solutions.
• The Aave protocol’s GHO stablecoin was deployed on the Arbitrum network. This deployment was approved by the Aave Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO), the community-controlled group that proposes and manages changes to the Aave lending protocol.
• Ethereum is launching its first-ever ‘Attackathon’ – a four-week hackathon with a $2 million reward pool. The event aims to be the largest crowdsourced security audit of Ethereum’s codebase, where security researchers will actively search for vulnerabilities in the protocol’s code.
• Story Protocol, backed by a16z, announced the launch of the IP blockchain Story Network. Story Network is a new Layer-1 (L1) blockchain focused on transforming intellectual property (IP) into liquid, programmable, and ownable digital assets. It aims to address the challenges of the current outdated legal system for managing and monetising IP.

Recent Research Reports

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [June 2024]: Equities and Fixed Income were up in June, while Cryptocurrencies dropped. Fed remains cautious on rate cuts, while ECB cuts rates for the first time in five years.
• New Developments in GameFi: Play-to-Airdrop and Prediction Markets: Both play-to-airdrop and prediction markets have blurred the boundaries between Web2 and Web3. Our latest report looks into new developments in GameFi by delving deeper into these two trends.
• Spot Ethereum ETFs: In May, the SEC approved eight spot Ether ETFs, potentially launching in July. These ETFs, unlike Bitcoin’s, offer staking rewards. Projections estimate ETH ETFs could see $1.4 to $4.5 billion in inflows and $700 million to $2.4 billion in trading volume within six months. Ethereum’s scalability upgrades enhance its investment appeal.

Recent University Articles

• What Are Crypto Airdrop Scams and How to Avoid Them: Crypto airdrop scams are making the rounds. Here’s how to spot phishing airdrops and protect your assets from scammers.
• What Is ORDI and How to Buy the ORDI Token: ORDI was the first BRC-20 token on the Bitcoin blockchain. Here’s an introduction to the Ordinals meme coin and how it works.
• What Is Stacks (STX) and How Does Stacking Work?: As a Bitcoin Layer-2, Stacks allows developers to build Bitcoin dapps and create new use cases for the ecosystem. Here’s how it works.

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Authors

Research and Insights Team

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