
Our weekly updates are put together by folks deep in the crypto scene, giving you a clear picture of what's happening without overwhelming you.

To Watch This Week
AIRDROPS + ALPHAOct 16, 2024

Markets
Developers Linked to North Korea Helped Develop Cosmos Staking Module, Says Co-Founder
Cosmos co-founder Jae Kwon has raised concerns about the integrity and security of the Cosmos Hub's liquid staking module (LSM), noting that individuals linked to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) contributed significantly to its development. In a Tuesday GitHub post, Kwon explained that “for sixteen months [...] the LSM was developed by individuals linked to North Korea, and their contributions were integrated into the Cosmos Hub without proper security vetting." He attributed this o...
Jul 4, 2024

Technology Guides
What are Layer 3 Networks? Improving Functionality and Interoperability
Blockchain infrastructure has evolved to incorporate layer 1 and layer 2 networks. A more recent development is the emergence of so-called “layer 3” networks. So what are layer 3 networks, and how do they differ from layer 1 and layer 2 networks? What is a layer 3? To understand what layer 3 networks are, we first need to look at the layer 1 and layer 2 networks that they sit atop. Layer 1 networks are the base layer of blockchain infrastructure, and include blockchains such as Ethereum or Bitco...
Apr 4, 2024

Coins
Saga Gaming Token Launch Set as Binance Users Stake $3.9 Billion for Rewards
The arrival of the Saga mainnet appears imminent,and the SAGA token itself has a listing date. That’s thanks to massive crypto exchange Binance, which announced a Binance Launchpool program to reward customers with SAGA tokens for staking other coins—and half of the initial circulating supply will be offered up through the promo. Binance will list the SAGA token on April 9, and up until that point, Binance customers can stake Binance Coin (BNB) or the FDUSD stablecoin into rewards pools via the...
Jan 23, 2024

Technology
Polymer Aims to Unify Ethereum Ecosystem With 'Interoperability Hub'
There’s a new entrant in the already very crowded field of Ethereum layer-2 solutions—and this one wants to be the chain that rules them all. Polymer today announced it has completed a $23 million Series A with investments from top-tier VCs in the crypto space, including Coinbase, Placeholder, and Digital Currency Group. The company plans to use the cash to build its eponymous network, which it describes as “the first Ethereum Layer 2 that provides interoperability-as-a-service to Ethereum and i...
Jan 2, 2024

Coins
Dymension Is the Latest Airdrop for Solana, Ethereum, and Cosmos Users
It’s a new year, but airdrop season is continuing at full force into 2024. The latest: Dymension, a network for deploying app chains called “RollApps,” has revealed a token drop for more than a million crypto users across various chains and projects. Dymension is a layer-1 blockchain built on Cosmos and the inter-blockchain communication protocol (IBC) to enable connections across various rollup scaling networks. “Dymension standardizes rollups with IBC, similar to how tokens were standardized w...
Nov 27, 2023

Markets
ATOM Slips 4% as Founder Pushes for Cosmos Fork After Inflation Vote
Following the passing of a community vote to slash inflation on the Cosmos Hub’s native token ATOM to 10%, founder Jae Kwon has called for a hard fork of the cryptocurrency. The rift in the Cosmos community has seen the price of ATOM slip by 4% in the past day, to its current value of $9.29, per CoinGecko. Proposal 848 passed with 41.1% of the network’s voting power versus 31.9% against, with 6.6% voting for a veto and 20.4% abstaining. The proposal will see ATOM’s inflation cut from around 14%...
Oct 24, 2023

DeFi
dYdX Releases Cosmos-Based Chain Source Code Ahead of Mainnet Launch
dYdX Trading, the U.S.-based firm developing the decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX, has released the open-source code for its independent blockchain to the public. Today’s launch marks the initiation of dYdX Chain, a new upgraded version (dYdX V4) of the popular derivatives exchange. dYdX Trading Founder and CEO Antonio Juliano said in a statement that, “With the dYdX Chain, dYdX brings transparency and security to derivatives trading with an exchange that is run solely by code, and contro...
Sep 29, 2023

DeFi
Cosmos Product Lead Says Ethereum Layer-2s Are Not the ‘Holy Grail’ of Scaling
It’s not all efficiency and solving trilemmas when it comes to Ethereum layer-2s. Susannah Evans, a product lead behind the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol at the Interchain Foundation, told Decrypt that Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem “fragments user and liquidity,” referring to the separation of liquidity pools across various networks with no solution for interoperability. “Layer-2s are no holy grail,” she said. “Each layer-2 ecosystem is a silo of its own.” Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitru...
Sep 23, 2023

Business
Regulators Are 'Hurting Their Own Country' in Seeking Encryption Backdoors: Nym CEO
In the face of ongoing debate among global leaders on how to balance protecting citizens from scams, exploitation, and government infrastructure from cyberattacks while at the same time protecting an individual's right to privacy, Nym CEO Harry Halpin believes there needs to be a balance between privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance but said out of touch politicians are standing in the way. “Ultimately, the regulatory environment is often run by, to be very honest, a gerontocracy of...
Sep 6, 2023

Gaming
PUBG Developers Unveil Cosmos-Based Settlus Blockchain for USDC Settlements
Krafton, the game development firm company behind popular battle royale title PUBG: Battlegrounds (originally PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), has unveiled plans for Settlus, a blockchain project utilizing the Cosmos SDK for payment settlements in USDC. Krafton, along with Circle and AngelHack, introduced the Settlus blockchain platform at the Korea Blockchain Week's Circle Hacker House event on Tuesday, according to a Medium article posted on Twitter by Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire. Calling the new...
Aug 24, 2023

Coins
DeFi Exchange Token Powering dYdX Soars 9% Overnight
Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX (DYDX) led gains over the last 24 hours among the 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, per CoinGecko data. The governance token rose by 9% overnight; it last traded at $2.18. dYdX is a popular decentralized derivatives exchange, boasting more than $589 million in 24-hour volume. Its gains come ahead of the project’s soon-to-be launched Cosmos-based blockchain, as well as a broader market uptrend on Wednesday. The platform is nearing the mainnet launch of i...
Jun 21, 2023

Business
Neutron Raises $10 Million to Develop Smart Contracts on Cosmos
Cosmos smart contract blockchain Neutron is receiving a boost with a $10 million funding round—a sizeable haul in the tight crypto fundraising environment. The fundraising haul was led by Binance Labs together with a group of other funders that include CoinFund, Delphi Ventures, LongHash and Nomad. It will support a "major technological and narrative shift" in the expansion of the Neutron smart contract platform, said Neutron core contributor Avril Dutheil in a statement. Ledger Expands Cosmos...
May 17, 2023

Business
Ledger Expands Cosmos Integration, Aims at Adding 20 New Projects
The new compatibility will let Ledger Live allow users to send, receive, and stake Cosmos' native ATOM token as well as three other Cosmos-based projects: Onomy, Quicksilver, and Persistence. Ledger’s goal is to add more than 20 new Cosmos projects by the end of the year and Axelar is due to be added within two weeks. Ledger Live is an app that enables Ledger users to send, receive, and stake tokens. The team believes Ledger is the first hardware wallet to offer all three functionalities for the...
Mar 27, 2023

DeFi
dYdX Reveals Launch Date for Move From Ethereum to Cosmos
dYdX announced the launch of its V4 private testnet this Tuesday, taking a significant step that will see the decentralized derivatives exchange (DEX) leave Ethereum. By the end of September, the platform will be fully running on Cosmos. The network allows developer teams to spin up their own native blockchains using the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) according to their own preferences. Though distinct, each independent Cosmos-based blockchain can interact with one another. The private te...
Feb 10, 2023

DeFi
SushiSwap Acquires Cosmos-Based Trading Platform Vortex Protocol
SushiSwap is making good on its January promises to launch a derivatives trading platform. But instead of building it from scratch, it’s gone out and bought one. The popular Ethereum-based decentralized exchange (DEX) announced the acquisition of Vortex Protocol today for an undisclosed amount. Built atop Sei Network, a blockchain using Cosmos’ tooling, the on-chain trading platform will come under the SushiSwap umbrella as another product and will take a new name. Why Some SushiSwap Stakers Are...
Aug 13, 2022

Coins
This Week in Coins: Ethereum and Avalanche Rally, Crypto Winter Still Not Over
This week in coins. Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt. Despite the ongoing cypto bear market, many top cryptocurrencies posted double-digit percentage gains over the week. Bitcoin had no such luck. Bitcoin only rose 5.5% over the last seven days and currently trades for $24,460 according to CoinMarketCap. Ethereum rallied much harder. The No. 2 cryptocurrency and leading blockchain for high-functionality smart contracts is up 16% in the past week to $1,984 at the time of writing, a...
Jun 8, 2022

DeFi
Cosmos-based DeFi Exchange Osmosis Hit by $5M Exploit
Osmosis, a decentralized exchange built using CosmosSDK, has been exploited, draining its liquidity pools for approximately $5 million. Developers have halted the Osmosis blockchain to prevent further damage. The decentralized exchange was stopped at roughly 10:49 pm EST today at a block height of 4,713,064, according to an announcement from Mintscan, an Osmosis block explorer. The exploit happened just two blocks before the halt. “Liquidity pools were NOT completely drained,” tweeted the team...
May 20, 2022

Coins
Cosmos Jumps 12% as Bitcoin, Ethereum Recover
Cosmos (ATOM), the token powering the eponymous blockchain network, is up 12.7% over the past 24 hours. ATOM is currently trading at $11.45, according to data from CoinMarketCap. ATOM is the 27th-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $3.2 billion. Despite today’s bullish action, ATOM still trades 74% down from its all-time high of $44.70 recorded in September 2021. There has been a spike in the coin’s trading volume across different exchanges. Its total trading volume hovers ar...
Jan 7, 2022

Coins
Cosmos Rises 12.5%, Defying Crypto Market Dip
Cosmos (ATOM) and Cosmos-based cryptocurrencies like Osmosis (OSMO) and Akash Network (AKT) are all in the green today, despite the broader crypto market seeing the biggest cryptocurrency fall in price. According to CoinGecko, ATOM is currently priced at $43.05. In the last 24 hours, it has increased by 12.5%, and in the previous week, ATOM has seen a price hike of 42.2%. OSMO, a fast-growing decentralized exchange (DEX), is having similar luck. Currently valued at $8.95, the coin has jumped b...
Dec 14, 2021

Markets
Terra Stablecoin's Market Cap Could Soon Flip DAI as Adoption Continues
The stablecoin for the Terra ecosystem is a hair’s breadth away from flipping Maker’s DAI to become the fourth-biggest stablecoin by market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko. TerraUSD (UST) currently has a market cap of $8.78 billion, whereas DAI corners $8.82 billion of the market. In terms of growth, though, UST has enjoyed impressive upwards momentum of late. In the last thirty days, the market cap of Terra’s UST stablecoin has grown by over 90%. Compare that to DAI’s 3% gro...