What a week for mainstreaming. Five new BTC ETF applications are pending, and Ripple received In-Principle Approval of a Major Payments Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In addition, Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that crypto as an asset class has staying power. He also shared the view that “payment stablecoins are a form of money.”
On the trading front, we see Zero-Knowledge proofs growing: zkSync Era has officially reached over US$500 million in total value locked (TVL) — a 90% increase in a month. Other ZK key players are also hitting milestones, with Polygon zkEVM reaching the one million transaction mark and Starknet seeing continuous growth in its TVL.
Market Spotlight
Note: Market prices captured in US$ at the time of reading. Explore more on Crypto.com/Price.
News Snaps
Bitcoin Rallies Following Wave of TradFi Interest
Bitcoin has surged to its highest level in over a month following bullish moves by a variety of traditional finance (TradFi) firms, including investment firms BlackRock, Invesco, and WisdomTree, which filed to launch spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Powell’s Landslide Quotes
Simultaneously, Jerome Powell, Chair of the US Federal Reserve, stated earlier this week that the Fed sees “payment stablecoins as a form of money” and that “crypto has staying power as an asset class.”
Higher Stakes for ETH
Ethereum developers recently submitted a proposal to increase the maximum validator balance on the network from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, which sparked debate in the community. According to the team behind the proposal, raising the validator balance cap could curb the growth of active validators, thereby boosting network efficiency and enabling finality within a single Ethereum slot.
Polygon ZK Proof
Polygon unveiled a new proposal that seeks to upgrade its Proof of Stake (PoS) chain to a zkEVM ‘validium’ version. If implemented, the new version of the chain will rely on Zero-Knowledge proofs to increase security.
Research Highlights Potential of Tokenization
A new research report from Bernstein highlighted the benefits of tokenization, such as operational efficiencies and improved accessibility to money, and also noted that, with the rise of stablecoins and CBDCs over the next five years, the tokenization process could be as much as US$5 trillion.
Deutsche Bank Applies for Digital Asset License in Germany
Deutsche Bank AG, the German bank and financial services company, has applied for a digital asset license with Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin. The license would allow Deutsche Bank to operate a custody service for digital assets, such as crypto.
What’s Ahead
Point Zero Forum Takes Place in Zurich
Point Zero Forum, a policy-technology dialogue convening central bankers, regulators, and other industry leaders to drive confidence, adoption, and growth of transformative technology, will take place in Zurich from June 26 to 28. Crypto.com is proud to support the event as a Silver Sponsor, and our very own Chief Compliance Officer, Antonio Alvarez, will participate in a panel discussion on synergies for DeFi and TradFi.
Research & Insights
Monthly Feature Article | Web3 and Meme Economy
For our latest Private members’ report, we dive deeper into the role memes play in helping to build the Web3 economy and its communities. With the resurgence of meme mania in 2023 — thanks, in part, to projects like Pepe coin (PEPE) — we put the spotlight on meme-based assets and how memes help propel these projects to popularity.
We also make the case for how memes can be a strong driving force in the crypto and Web3 spaces, using some notable meme-based projects as case studies, including Doge NFT, SHIB: The Metaverse, and Floki Inu. Read about all of this and more in our report, exclusive to our Private members.
Key Takeaways:
- Notable meme-based projects that have helped establish Web3 include Doge NFT, SHIB: The Metaverse, and Floki Inu; all have demonstrated that memes are not only a strong driving force for the internet, but also in helping to build Web3 communities.
- By fractionalizing the original Doge NFT into 16,969,696,969 DOG tokens, PleasrDAO managed to build an entirely new decentralised community.
- Shiba Inu (SHIB) has demonstrated an impressive journey from being a meme coin to building a strong community and is now expanding into its own Metaverse through SHIB: The Metaverse.
- Floki Inu (FLOKI) is a blockchain-based project that is building its own suite of several utility projects. The team behind Floki Inu aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem spanning DeFi, NFTs, and the Metaverse. This ecosystem will be powered by the FLOKI token, which will serve as its main utility token.
Check out Web3 and Meme Economy.
NFT Spotlight
With the idea to establish a new IP monetization platform and empower manga and anime fans globally, the team behind ‘LIFE OF HEL’ (LOH) — the first token-gated manga series ever released on the Cronos blockchain — is dropping Volume 1 this Monday, June 26.
In the works for over a decade, the LOH saga will consist of seven volumes to be released through seven NFT drops, with each drop representing a volume entitling holders to exclusive benefits (including digital reads and priority over future mints). 📖 This drop features exclusive access to read ‘LIFE OF HEL — Volume 1’.
Always wanted to be more than just a manga/anime fan? Hold true ties in the NextGen Manga Franchise by becoming an LOH NFT holder. If you like manga, fun, and ramen, look no further! Hundreds of pages of fantastic art and story await!
Check out Volume 1! Or visit the team for more details.
Product Picks
Crypto.com App Launches The Long-awaited Profit and Loss Dashboard
Review your all time PnL and better understand your investment performance to make better-informed investment decisions with various data points at your fingertips like net invested, average cost, portfolio diversity and more! Read the blog for more details and check it out here.
DeFi Wallet Supports zkSync Era
DeFi Wallet has introduced support for the zkSync Era network. Users can now easily send and receive ETH and other ERC-20 tokens on zkSync Era, plus interact with dapps. Download the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet here.
Crypto Level Up
What Are Blockchain Forks?
A blockchain fork refers to a network’s code being modified and ‘split off’ from the original one. Like an actual fork’s prongs, the original and modified codes can exist alongside each other. Check out the two types of forks and how different blockchains have used them through the years.
What Is a Hard Fork?
A hard fork is a major change to a blockchain that renders it incompatible with its previous versions. Nodes in the pre-forked network are not able to process transactions or push new blocks to the post-forked one.
One example of a hard fork is Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade in April 2023. This allowed Ethereum’s validators to unstake their ETH from the Beacon Chain.
What About a Soft Fork?
A soft fork is a change to a blockchain, which keeps it compatible with its previous versions. For example, nodes that aren’t updated can still process transactions and push new blocks to the blockchain. Only the majority of miners need to upgrade to the blockchain’s new version.
An example of a soft fork is Bitcoin’s SegWit upgrade in August 2017. This increased Bitcoin’s transaction capacity by allowing more transactions to be included in each block.
Learn More About Blockchain Forks.
#CryptoIRL
When you rent a boat using your Crypto.com Icy White Visa Card, yes, you are a rock star — @Cryptorockstar4 representing swimmingly.
Hashtag #CryptoIRL with your Crypto.com Visa Card on your social profiles to get featured! Your 15 minutes of fame in the #CROFam awaits you!
Decoder
Security Token
Security tokens are similar to stock certificates that represent ownership. The key difference is that security tokens are recorded on a blockchain and represented as a token.
For this reason, they can be referred to as equity tokens and regarded as securities by financial regulatory bodies. This subjects a security token to the same regulations that govern traditional securities, such as stocks and bonds.
This Week in Crypto History
Stanford University Launches Center for Blockchain Research
On June 20, 2018, Stanford University launched its Center for Blockchain Research. Along with researching blockchain technology, the Center aimed to create courses for both students and professionals. These courses would teach them how the technology can be utilized for various purposes, including the development of financial instruments.
Today, the Center continues to conduct research and hold blockchain and cryptocurrency courses. Additionally, it schedules regular outreach activities, such as monthly seminars and an annual conference. Furthermore, Stanford University now has two student organizations focused on blockchain technology.
That’s it for this week’s Snapshot. Want more? Head over to our Insta feed for bite-size crypto lessons.
