DeFi & L1L2 Weekly — 📈 Solana outshines Ethereum with 123 million active addresses in October; Ethereum launches Mekong testnet to preview Pectra upgrade  

Solana outshines Ethereum with 123 million active addresses in October. Ethereum launches Mekong testnet to preview Pectra upgrade. Cronos Labs strengthens Google Cloud partnership to accelerate ecosystem growth.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week’s DeFi indices all show positive movements, with the market capitalisation, volume, and volatility indices increasing by +28.75%, +132.77%, and +96.73%, respectively.

• The Ethereum Foundation has launched the Mekong testnet, which allows developers to explore user experience (UX) changes and familiarise themselves with the upcoming modifications for the Prague-Electra, or Pectra, fork. The testnet will be short-lived, and is fully equipped with the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) planned for Pectra.
• Ethereum researcher Justin Drake proposed a redesign of the network’s consensus layer, recommending a shift from the existing Beacon Chain to a new ‘Beam Chain’. Drake indicated that the shift could bring Ethereum significantly closer to the design envisioned for the network.
• Sky’s governance proposal to rebrand the decentralised finance protocol back to its original name was rejected in a vote heavily influenced by several large stakeholders. Nearly 80% of the votes favoured keeping the current identity.

Chart of the Week

In October, Solana achieved 123 million monthly active addresses, marking the highest number of addresses recorded on the network. Notably, Solana’s monthly active addresses surpassed that of Ethereum for four consecutive months since July 2024.

According to The Block, the number of signed transactions from unique Solana addresses increased by 42% since September, indicating a significant acceleration on network activity. This is mainly due to the growing popularity of meme coins on the network, thanks to its ease of minting on Pump.fun, and the increased volume of meme coin trading on Raydium, a Solana-based decentralised exchange.

News Highlights

• Cronos Labs announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud, designating it as the primary cloud service provider for its ecosystem. The partnership aims to enhance the network’s technical infrastructure, and promote the development of advanced decentralised applications (dapps) that leverage Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence (AI), data, and computing tools.
• Near Protocol unveiled a plan to build the world’s largest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model. Featuring 1.4 trillion parameters, the project would be three and a half times larger than Meta’s existing open-source Llama model.
• ENS Labs launched Namechain, a Layer-2 solution designed to enhance the scalability, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness of creating blockchain-based identities. Namechain aims to reduce gas fees and simplify the management of creating identities on Ethereum by leveraging rollup technology.
• The Eclipse Foundation launched its public mainnet, Eclipse, which is a Layer-2 solution on Ethereum that is powered by the Solana Virtual Machine. This project positions itself as a bridge between Solana and Ethereum, providing access to Ethereum’s liquidity and Solana’s parallel transaction execution. 
• Magic Labs and Polygon Labs launched the Newton testnet, a wallet solution and cross-chain smart contract for AggLayer. The solution aims to make it easier for users to access global liquidity and carry out transactions with a single wallet.
• Pendle introduced Boros, a protocol designed for margin trading of tokenised yield. The platform will enable various yields to be traded, including those generated from off-chain asset classes.

Recent Research Reports

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [October 2024]: Crypto and equities saw mixed performances, and interest rates in areas like China and the Eurozone dipped. Dive into the details in the latest Alpha Navigator report.
• Crypto Derivatives Trading – Technical Analysis in Perpetuals and CFDs: The report demonstrates how to use popular technical indicators — MACD & RSI — to build trading strategies within the Crypto.com ecosystem.
• Solana Staking: Staking on Solana can be divided into Staking-as-a-Service, liquid staking, staking with CEX, and solo staking. This report looks into Solana’s staking landscape.

Interested to know more? Access exclusive reports by signing up as a Private member, joining our Crypto.com Exchange VIP Programme, or collecting a Loaded Lions NFT.

Recent University Articles

• Selecting Range in UpDown Options – A Guide: Setting the right range can be the deciding factor for a successful UpDown option contract. Here’s how you can do so.
• Spot Ethereum ETFs Explained: What to Know: Spot Ethereum ETFs were approved by the US SEC in July 2024. Here’s an overview of how they work.
• How Does Ethereum Work? An Introduction to ETH: From smart contracts to dapps and gas fees, this article explains it all.

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