Sentiment is down, and critics have been quick to point out ETH's underperformance against SOL while largely attributing this to a perceived loss of mindshare and users to L2s.

This narrative has sparked a crucial debate: Are L2s Ethereum?

arjunnchand
brings the analysis...

========================================

🤔 Symbiotic or Separatist?
L2s have been a core component of Ethereum's rollup-centric roadmap from the very beginning. They were envisioned as extensions (technical and cultural) of Ethereum, designed to expand its capabilities and attract a broader user base.

At their core, L2s are deeply linked with Ethereum. They share its DNA — relying on ETH as the currency, benefitting from Ethereum's security blanket, and utilizing it for data storage and settlement. It's like a startup leveraging its parent company's infrastructure and brand recognition, a win-win for both.

The symbiotic relationship between L2s and Ethereum is undeniable. L2s thrive on Ethereum's infrastructure and security, while Ethereum benefits from the increased activity and increased demand for ETH, making it a better store of value.

By offering lower fees and faster transaction times, L2s have made it easier for developers to build different types of applications. Look at the explosion of memecoins on Base or the rise of SocialFi platforms like Farcaster creating new markets for users.

Beyond that, L2s are becoming major hubs for DeFi activity, and ETH, the asset, is at the heart of this ecosystem. Look at the numbers:
arbitrum
,
Optimism
,
@base
— these chains are dominated by ETH-related assets.

🧛‍♂️ Vampire attack?
However, one of the primary arguments against the rollup-centric approach to scaling Ethereum is the assumption that L2s may not continue to rely on Ethereum. Sure, L2s and Ethereum seem like a happy family now. But what if L2s build their own empires and ditch Ethereum altogether? No more relying on Ethereum for security, no more ETH as gas, not even needing Ethereum's block space.

This "L2s go rogue" fear is a legitimate concern. Technically, they could build independent ecosystems with their own validators as they would then be able to own the entire modular blockchain stack. So, is this the future – a messy breakup between L2s and Ethereum? Not necessarily.

We can all agree that there are perhaps a few too many L2s. Too many copycats. Too little differentiation. It's like a thousand startups chasing the same market, all promising the same thing. This isn't healthy.

What we need are L2s that matter. L2s that offer something unique, something that sets them apart. Security, app diversity, GTM strategy — these are the areas where we need to see real innovation.

But we must be wary of ‘echo chambers’. These zones of chains should not become isolated universes. A healthy L2 ecosystem is one where chains work together, not in isolation. We need bridges, not moats.

We need collaboration. We need communication. We need education. We need incentives. We need to build shared infrastructure and standards that foster seamless connectivity across L2s. Only then can we truly win together.

💭 Closing Thoughts
You can say that L2s aren’t Ethereum. You can argue L2s aren’t even extensions of Ethereum. But you cannot deny the fact that L2s enhance the utility of Ethereum and ETH.

The "L2s vs. Ethereum" debate is a false dichotomy. This isn't a zero-sum game. Ultimately, Ethereum and L2s are in this together. Let's build a future where Ethereum and L2s thrive as a symbiotic whole, and push the crypto ecosystem forward.

Crypto markets have suffered noticeable pullbacks following September 10’s highly anticipated presidential debate.

In the wake of self-proclaimed ‘Crypto President’ Donald Trump’s performance, scales have tipped in favor of Kamala Harris, with prediction markets illustrating renewed support for the Democrats.

Crypto Markets Tumble as Republican Confidence Wanes
The presidential debate had a resounding effect on the digital asset market. Following the event, $SOL price has dropped 5.1%, sliding from September 10’s high of $137 .9 to currently trade hands at $130 .84.

Beyond asset prices, CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index also dropped from a neutral 46.72 to a fearful ranking of 31.6.

The crypto market’s slide is expected to be due to the wider industry’s assumption that a Trump presidency will be favorable for the blockchain industry.

Commentators argue that Trump’s pro-crypto stance will greatly benefit the sector, with many analysts proposing that the approval of a spot SOL ETF hinges on a Republican victory. Meanwhile, some Solana community members expressed that regardless of who emerges triumphant in November, it will make little difference.

Over the past four years, the Biden administration has loomed large over the crypto industry. Gary Gensler and the S.E.C. (Securities and Exchanges Commission) have been widely criticized by the crypto community for their regulation-by-enforcement approach, which has seen the agency hand out a litany of lawsuits to crypto businesses throughout its time in office.

Volume Spikes on Drift Protocol’s Prediction Market
While Trump and Harris clashed heads on camera, traders took their chance to hit the prediction markets. Drift Protocol’s BET platform, a marketplace enabling users to trade the outcomes of real-world events, enjoyed an impressive surge of trading volume during the debate.

According to Dune Analytics, Drift Protocol’s BET protocol witnessed over $851k in daily trading volume. While falling short of market leader PolyMarket’s $14M daily volume, BET’s dramatic volume spike represented a 1,287% increase over the previous day’s trading.

According to BET’s dedicated market, Trump’s chances of winning the presidential election dropped from 54.2% to 49.5% since the debate began.

$TREMP Down, $KAMA Up
Finally, the landmark debate sent waves of volatility through Solana’s PolitiFi memecoin economy.

Unfortunately for $TREMP holders, crypto markets rejected the Presidential hopeful’s debate performance. $TREMP price crumbled under increased selling pressure, plunging 28% from.19 to currently exchange hands at.135, based on Step Finance data.

Meanwhile, the Kamala Harris-inspired $KAMA saw renewed support. $KAMA surged over 34%, rising from 0.007 to currently trade at.0094. Despite $KAMA’s superior performance, the memecoin still has a smaller market cap ($8.3M) than its PolitiFi rival $TREMP ($14.2M).

Prices may be down, but Grayscale's making bull market bets if you know where to look.

These are the assets that have caught the attention of Crypto's Wall Street whisperer 👇

========================================

When Grayscale announces a new Trust for a particular asset, the market often reacts with a mix of excitement and skepticism.

It's a bit like a double-edged sword: a signal of saturation for some and a beacon of hope for others.

Some might interpret the launch as a sign that the market for that asset is reaching saturation or at least limited upside potential in crypto terms.

On the one hand, it’s a stamp of approval from a major player in the crypto space. It can lend legitimacy to the asset, potentially attracting institutional investors, and, at the very least, boost media coverage.

Grayscale has been adding new investment products at a faster clip, showcasing their conviction that we’re in the middle innings of a crypto bull market fueled by a grand slam of bullish signals: #Bitcoin ETF inflows, the long-awaited $ETH ETF launch, increasing stablecoin adoption, and steady growth in TVL across DeFi.

As a quiet giant in the industry, investors continue to watch what Grayscale is backing and what that says about their impressions of which direction the industry is headed. What assets have caught their attention lately? Let's find out. 👇

----------------------------------------------------------

Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund (FIL, NEAR, RNDR, LPT, TAO)

Grayscale Bittensor Trust (TAO)
Bittensor envisions a world where AI isn't a tool in the hands of a few corporations but a resource democratized for all. It aims to create an "Internet of AI" where everyone can contribute and benefit from AI models. $TAO incentivizes participants to contribute to the network by providing rewards for tasks like validating models and running AI computations.

As the AI race among big tech companies heats up, Grayscale believes that Bittensor offers a compelling alternative approach towards AI development, one that encourages a wider range of participants and ideas.

Grayscale SUI Trust (SUI)
$Sui boasts a novel blockchain design that prioritizes scalability and user experience. It allows for parallel processing, tackling multiple transactions simultaneously.
SuiNetwork
's competitive edge comes down to its custom-built programming language, Sui Move, which streamlines smart contract development and execution.

As the need for blockspace and faster execution in crypto increases, Grayscale believes that Sui opens the door to a new wave of decentralized applications that were previously limited by existing blockchain infrastructure.

The Grayscale Effect
Overall, the impact of a Grayscale Trust launch is highly subjective to the specific asset. By no means does it signify that the asset is destined for greatness. Take the Grayscale Decentraland Trust (MANA), for instance.

The key takeaway is that Grayscale's bullish outlook on crypto is evident in its recent product launches. They believe we're currently in a bull market and are positioning themselves accordingly.

Analysis by arjunnchand

BullVerse Update

BullPad
There have been numerous inquiries regarding BullPad, and we would like to address them. After careful consideration, the team has decided that launching BullPad at this time would not be beneficial. The market sentiment remains highly bearish, trading volumes across financial markets are low, and overall uncertainty persists. Furthermore, Pump.fun’s volume has decreased by 95% from its all-time high. All signs indicate that this is not the ideal time to release a launchpad. However, we remain fully committed to launching it when market conditions are more favorable.

BullPay
BullPay is currently in beta (available at bullpay.fun). As well-needed solution in the space, it is connected to a lot of upcoming features inisde the platform. BullPay will serve not only as a marketplace but also as a crypto payment gateway, like Stripe or PayPal for crypto transactions. We developed an API kit allowing our partners to get paid from their website or mobile app.

Activity Rewards & User Experience
We are still working on developing a sustainable, more gamified and automated solution for activity rewards. Once this is finalized, we will announce it, and automated payouts will resume.

The BullVerse Ecosystem
It’s important to note that BullVerse is a long-term project. We are continually enhancing user, partner, and community engagement. As with any major project, development will unfold progressively rather than all at once.

Communication
The team is working tirelessly behind the scenes to improve the BullVerse ecosystem daily. Many individuals are involved, and significant resources have been invested in this project. Our commitment is unwavering, and we continue to expand our network by forming strategic partnerships, which are crucial for long-term growth. The vision is clear and we are enjoying the journey.

Teasers
Our primary focus has been on laying a strong foundation by creating a stable platform that incorporates both incentives and crypto utilities. Our main goal is to deliver a clear and practical use case that attracts the visibility BullVerse deserves. As a utility project, we view this as a key driver of our success: BullVerse should not just be about content, but also a hub where crypto enthusiasts can speculate, win, lose, be rewarded, and find their community. Something exciting is coming very soon..

Bullish times are ahead,
The BullVerse Team

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES TO DePIN GROWTH??
In a recent appearance at ETHToronto, Frank Mathis highlights the next steps for DePIN’s future.

GenesysGo founder Frank Mathis is no stranger to the highs and lows of crypto’s thriving DePIN sector.

Drawing on his years of experience, Mathis joined other DePIN thought leaders at ETHToronto, including Helium COO Scott Sigel, to discuss the future of the sector.

“If DePIN solves that, DePIN is inevitable”
Like many passionate crypto community members, DePIN advocates staunchly argue that DePIN is inevitable. Speaking to hundreds of crypto enthusiasts at ETHToronto, Mathis offered a refreshing point of view.

The GenesysGo founder argues that value creation for contributors is one of the most integral aspects of running successful DePIN networks. Mathis highlighted that, while DePIN promises to reward contributors as decentralized software scales, “it’s shocking how much of that is running on AWS and Google Cloud.”

For example, over 50% of Ethereum node operators are hosted on AWS, Hetzner, and OVH servers.

Reiterating the importance of wealth creation for contributors, Mathis contends “what DePIN really is, is an attempt to take one of the most centralized layers of the stack and decentralize that amongst the people such that they start to participate in the growth and success of these models.”

GenesysGo’s ShdwDrive is one such example. The decentralized storage solution empowers users to earn $SHDW tokens by providing unused mobile storage to a distributed network, directly generating income from a device that lives in their pocket.

Reflecting the ideal DePIN model proposed by Mathis, network contributors benefit from the growth and success of the platform. The GenesysGo founder reinforced this notion, opining “DePIN is only as inevitable as the value that participants in the network get from it… if DePIN solves that, DePIN is inevitable.”

POOR PERFORMANCE “ONE OF THE BIGGEST FAILINGS OF DePIN”
On paper, the benefits of DePINs are obvious. However, in practice, these platforms often sacrifice performance and scalability in favor of decentralization. While this aids in value creation for contributors and increases security, it actually hamstrings performance and growth.

DePIN is often considered the natural evolution of the sharing economy, which delivered iconic businesses like Uber and Airbnb.

Drawing parallels between the pearls of the sharing economy and emerging DePIN projects, Mathis illustrated that “Uber became highly successful, not just because you’re able to share in pieces of things you don’t use everyday.. but because it worked well, it was fast, it was easy to use.”

Mathis argues that for DePIN projects to truly take off, they need to rival the performance standards set by centralized industry leaders. Referencing his experience with GenesysGo, the founder posits “in our case, our first principle [is] decentralized storage needs to be as fast, as secure, as stable, and perform every bit as well as a traditional Web2 cloud service.”

ABSTRACTION IS KEY
The Web3 user experience has long been considered one of the industry’s biggest obstacles to adoption. The complexities of wallet management and security have discouraged newcomers to space for over a decade, and continue to repel potential users today.

Mathis insists that abstracting the end-user experience away from blockchain technology is key to the success of the industry. Reinforcing this belief, the founder affirms “Your end user shouldn’t know that they’re interacting with Web3”

Looking towards the future, Mathis considers DePIN regulation will present a significant obstacle to the sector’s growth. However, instead of taking a chagrined approach to future regulatory concerns, the GenesysGo founder suggests that DePIN projects need to take on some responsibility.

available for pre-order.

Price: $599 .

Players can pay for their pre-order in Sui, Ethereum or Solana.

The first 1,000 people to pre-order the device will receive an NFT “that will provide special rewards and benefits.”

https://decrypt.co/247520/...

BIG SUPPLY, BIG PROBLEMS AS SOLANA’S NFT MARKET REJECTS LARGE COLLECTIONS

Fresh minting mechanics are bringing greater security to Solana NFTs, but new mints and large collections struggle to garner attention and are trading below mint price.

New NFT collections have learned a painful lesson this week. If it wasn’t obvious due to stagnant floor prices and diminishing trade volume, launching a fresh collection in these conditions is a difficult task.

Despite commentators claiming these hyped collections will usher in a “new era” and whitelist spots selling at over $50 apiece on open markets, launches from Pathfinders and Hermans have failed to meet expectations.

Will Solana’s NFT market ever witness another successful 10,000 NFT collection? Or are small supplies the only way of conserving value?

ONLY 21% OF PATHFINDER'S RISK-FREE NFTs MINTED

Despite proposing a new, risk-free method of launching Solana NFTs, the Pathfinders collection faces difficulty minting out. At press time, only 2,125/10,000 NFTs have been minted, falling well short of expectations.

Pathfinder’s novel LST-backed NFT collection launched with noble intentions. Providing an alternative mechanic that aims to protect minters, the collection has launched Solana’s first un-ruggable NFTs.

Unlike standard NFT mints, Pathfinders NFTs are minted using pathSOL, the project’s native liquid staking token. Holders reserve the right to redeem their NFT for the underlying pathSOL used to mint the asset, essentially securing the NFT’s value at a minimum of 2pathSOL.

Regardless, Solana’s NFT community has largely ignored the project’s novel approach to minting. Supporters of the new mechanic took to social media to express their disappointment with the NFT community’s apparent apathy. 

Commentators noted that network participants have collectively poured thousands of SOL into extractive and malicious actors, but are unwilling to support builders providing meaningful alternatives.

‘Hyped’ New Mint Immediately Under Floor - Are Presales to Blame?

Boasting a sold-out presale that constituted 55% of the total supply, the Hermans NFT collection suffered a similar fate. Priced at 1.5 SOL per NFT, Hermans struggled to attract interest during the public mint, forcing the team to take drastic action.

Hermans trading on secondary marketplaces like Tensor and Magic Eden was locked until the mint was complete, meaning holders were unable to list their assets. The team took it upon themselves to buy all unminted assets. The Hermans’ treasury now holds over 1,600 NFTs, roughly 33% of the supply.

Almost immediately, the collection began trading beneath mint price as presales and regretful minters clamored to liquidate their holdings for SOL. Hermans currently exchange hands at 0.84 SOL, down 44% from the original mint price.

While poor NFT market conditions are a significant contributor to the recent slew of disappointing NFT launches, social media commentators have argued that NFT presales are also to blame.

Low Supply NFT Collections Retain Value

In recent years, NFT markets have witnessed countless large supply collections suffer devastating downtrends. 

Top Solana collections like Mad Lads, Tensorians (pictured), and Claynosaurs have all endured significant drawdowns, while dozens of less-resilient projects have effectively plummeted to zero.

Comparatively, low supply and 1/1 NFT collections have retained their value remarkably well. Limited supply art collections like Boogles, Dead King Society, and The SixNine are typically only available through OTC deals and have maintained comparatively stable floors, regardless of SOL price fluctuations.

Arguably, this suggests that the most valuable utility NFTs offer is access to exclusive communities. Alternatively, it could also indicate that low-supply collections with low market liquidity create an elite sense of perceived value, which has supported the valuations of these co

📆 10 years ago today, on August 28, 2014, Hal Finney died from Lou Gehrig's disease.

An outstanding cryptographer and beneficiary of the first bitcoin transaction, he is considered one of the greatest contributors to this network.

Thanks for everything, Hal 🙏

We are excited to welcome $TEMI as official partners and are committed to working together to benefit the space and our communities. Stay tuned for more announcements regarding this partnership.

$TEMI x $BULL

Follow Temi on BullVerse: @Temi

🔺 Franklin Templeton extends his Blockchain Fund to Avalanche.

The Wall Street titan's Government Money Fund (FOBXX) is now available on the Avalanche network.

FOBXX is represented by the BENJI token, which is currently trading on Stellar, Polygon and Arbitrum.

"The addition of Benji to the Avalanche network further expands access to our first tokenized money market fund"

Says Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton.

https://www.theblock.co/po...

Partnership Announcement🤝

Your number #1 source for BRAYKING $NOOZ

We’re thrilled to announce a partnership with Feyk Nooz! Their account proudly wears the gold checkmark on BullVerse reserved for our partners.

We are excited to welcome Feyk Nooz as official partners and are committed to working together to benefit the space and our communities. Stay tuned for more announcements regarding this partnership.

$NOOZ x $BULL

Follow Feyk Nooz on BullVerse: @feyknooz

US LIQUID MONEY SUPPLY - $USM2 Indicator

➡️ From January 2010 to January 2020, the US M2 money supply increased by $6 .7 billion, from $8 .5 billion to $15 .2 billion, an increase of +78%.

👉 Then, between January 2020 and April 2022, the M2 money supply jumped by $6 .4 billion, recording an increase of +41% in just two years, almost as much as over the entire previous decade!

📈 To watch in the coming months: depending on the decisions that will be taken to stimulate the economy or control inflation, a further expansion of the M2 money supply could lead to an influx of capital into financial markets, which could notably benefit cryptos, as during the COVID period.
#altcoins

Partnership Announcement🤝

We’re thrilled to announce a partnership with Landlord Ronald! Their account proudly wears the gold checkmark on BullVerse reserved for our partners.

We are excited to welcome Landlord as official partners and are committed to working together to benefit the space and our communities. Stay tuned for more announcements regarding this partnership.

$LANDLORD x $BULL

Follow Landlord on BullVerse: bullverse.io/landlord

The project $FLUX will deploy its own AI solution 🤖 on August 20, operating thanks to the computing power provided by its FluxEdge network ⛏️

Completely FREE, the ChatBot can be used for personal and professional purposes.

Later, it will be possible to have API access so that developers can connect their Dapps to the network and benefit from its strength.

This is the first draft and "showcase" offered by the FluxEdge network (in which you can participate and receive rewards!!!)

Subsequently, AI models to generate images, videos, voice synthesizers, etc. are also planned and will expand the existing offering.

Even though I have no technical skills in this, I am looking forward to testing the system from a user perspective 🙌

Below, an example of the possibilities offered by the current version of the system ⤵️

https://x.com/dak_flux/sta...

⚠️ This is quite interesting:

Inflation (CPI) has registered its FIRST MONTH with an interannual figure LESS than 3% in MORE THAN 3 YEARS ‼️👀

Meanwhile, the odds of the FED 🇺🇸 cutting rates in September are INCREASING, for now putting aside fears of a short-term recession ⚠️

If the data follows this same path, the Federal Reserve will begin a new cycle of liquidity injection in just over a month, and risk assets such as #Bitcoin will see GREAT BENEFITS 🚨

How do you think the next macro data will turn out? 🤔

We have some big fans of Maestro Pro

So it’s a good thing we have a $100 ,000 giveaway running! Join in on those exclusive benefits by entering now for a chance to win.

That’s 500 winners - will you be one?

Check our pinned post for details!
🤖 https://t.me/MaestroTestim...

➡️ Binance saw a net inflow of $2 .23 billion in the past 24 hours, according to DefiLlama.

Trading volume on CEX was also one of the highest in 2024.

Have you also benefited from the fall in prices? 🧐

After years of development behind the scenes, the Paladin team is finally showing its hand. Proposing a more egalitarian approach to MEV rewards, Paladin aims to discourage MEV frontrunners and provide an alternative that is more profitable for everyone.

With MEV bots reportedly extracting millions from Solana DEX markets every month, Paladin might just be the knight in shining armor that Solana DeFi needs.

Fully decentralized, open-source, and permissionless, Paladin’s mission is to eliminate predatory MEV on Solana. But how does it work?

THE PALADIN BOT
Designed to run within the Jito client, the Paladin bot is a fast open-source arbitrage bot. It runs locally in a validator and only operates when that particular validator is the leader.

The Paladin bot relies on three distinct features to improve a validator’s APY (Annual Percentage Yield):

- Atomic Arb Bot - Not to be confused with a frontrunning sandwich bot, Paladin is a high-performance arbitrage bot that is faster than external searchers.

- CeFi/DeFi Arb - Leveraging a permissionless DeFi bulletin board that communicates directly with slot leaders, Paladin is able to capture MEV through CeFi/DeFi price discrepancies.

- PALAggregator - Running exclusively within the leader, Paladin bot knows with certainty the exact price of every asset in real time. The bot can use this advantage to find a better path on trades and share the surplus rewards with the wallet that executed the transaction.

Essentially, the Paladin bot is a powerful tool that is altruistically employed to benefit and incentivize honest validator behavior.

To reap the benefits of Paladin, validators need to operate the Paladin bot, which in turn rewards holders and stakers of the protocol's native token, PAL.

PALADIN REWARD DYNAMICS - THE PAL TOKEN
Breaking the trend of providing speculative governance tokens, Paladin has opted for a more tangible token economy driven genuine value accrual.

PAL, the protocol’s native token, serves as the means by which MEV rewards are distributed to stakers and validators running the Paladin Bot, or ‘Palidators’.

MEV rewards captured by Palidators are distributed as follows:

- 90% is returned to the leader

- 5% is directed to Palidators and their stakers, proportionate to the amount of SOL staked

- 5% is passed to PAL token holders. However, given that 50% is airdropped to validators and PAL stakers, unstaked PAL holders receive 2.5%

While PAL is not a governance token, it does play a crucial role in the ecosystem outside of reward distribution. If Palidators are believed to be operating dishonestly, PAL stakers can vote to slash that Palidator’s stake, burning its PAL.

The protocol aims to distribute MEV rewards among honest ecosystem contributors in a way that everyone wins, as opposed to a competitive scramble for larger pieces of the MEV pie.

Despite a relatively muted social presence, the Paladin launch is generating excitement behind closed doors. In an exclusive statement with SolanaFloor, Paladin representative Uri Klarman revealed that “8% of Solana stake have committed to being a launch partner and run Paladin ahead of the launch.”

Additionally, the protocol has plenty of resources to encourage continued development and expansion from ecosystem developers.

According to Klarman, a budget of $5M per year has been committed to continued development, meaning that ecosystem developers may be sufficiently inspired to expand Paladin beyond the Jito client to Firedancer and any subsequent clients in the future.

Paladin’s unique approach to MEV and reward distribution acknowledges that it’s impossible to prevent validators from frontrunning transactions. However, should the Paladin protocol prove successful, its reward structure would be a more economical alternative, hopefully making Solana an efficient DeFi ecosystem for all users.

⚖️ Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong “Bitboy” is currently under investigation by the CFTC for promoting 15 cryptos including the $BEN token.

The CFTC has subpoenaed media company Hit Network, the company that formerly managed Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong.

Armstrong had presented the tokens in YouTube videos.
According to the title of some YouTube videos, some had the best potential to make x100

https://www.theblock.co/po...

Solana’s favorite no-code token deployer has proven itself the biggest application of the cycle, consistently generating millions in revenue.

Pump.fun, a popular Solana-based token deployment application, is showing no sign of stopping. After celebrating the launch of one million tokens on the platform on June 14, 2024, pump.fun notched 1.5M launches a mere 42 days later on July 25th.

PUMP.FUN GENERATES $85M REVENUE SINCE JANUARY LAUNCH
Consistently generating over $1M in daily revenue, pump.fun has established itself as one of the most valuable crypto apps in terms of revenue generation. In just under seven months since its January 14 launch, pump.fun has generated 520,412 SOL in revenue, currently valued at over $85M

The platform’s viral growth has set an astonishing pace. After a comparatively slow start, pump.fun usage exploded in March and never looked back. On average, 12,679 tokens were launched daily on the platform in July, based on Dune Analytics data.

Off the back of its massive popularity, pump.fun recently crossed the 1.5M token deployment threshold. The no-code token creator is accelerating towards the next significant milestone at 2M launches and is expected to achieve this feat in just under 32 days, if it continues the pace set in July.

In a recent interview with threadguy, a popular crypto influencer, pump.fun co-founder alon credits the platform’s success to its accessibility. Alon argues that pump.fun is the ideal intersection between finance and social media, contending that “pump.fun is SocialFi in the most crypto-native way”.

PUMP.FUN RESPONSIBLE FOR 40.97% OF SOLANA DEX TRANSACTIONS
One doesn’t need to look far to see that pump.fun has evolved into one of the most critical applications in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem.

According to Dune Analytics data collected over the past seven days, pump.fun transactions make up approximately 40.97% of all Solana DEX transactions.

However, given that tokens launched on the platform are migrated to Raydium upon reaching a market capitalization of $69 ,000, volumes on the app remain relatively low compared to other decentralized exchanges.

Despite attracting the bulk of Solana DEX transactions, pump.fun’s DEX volume market share continues to hover around 4%, with Raydium being a significant benefactor of pump.fun’s success.

“THE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO CRYPTO ” - Alon Responds to Criticism
For many blockchain advocates, pump.fun represents all the worst parts of the industry. Arguing that the proliferation of meme coins on Solana is drawing attention away from serious projects, and delegitimizing the industry.

In response to criticism, alon concedes that “pump.fun is the worst thing to happen for crypto for a lot of people”. However, the co-founder argues that the platform has simply “uncovered the veil” and exposed “crypto for what it really is”.

Looking ahead, alon posits that the key to continuing pump.fun’s meteoric growth is to “leaning into what we’ve already done”.

While not giving away any hints regarding upcoming features on the platform, alon indicated that the pump.fun team was committed to “improving the experience while maintaining the culture that makes it so exciting in the first place.”

Elon Musk said he is not going to promote cryptocurrency

I'm not going to promote cryptocurrency - at most, in a joking manner.

"If you see me promoting it, it's not me. I think there is some benefit to Bitcoin and other coins, and I'm also partial to DOGE."
#crypto #Bitcoin #Elon #Musk #ElonMusk #tokens #info #eng

Solana’s vast staking ecosystem continues to offer a generous bounty of rewards and utilities. The network’s burgeoning DeFi activity has amplified blockchain revenue, flipping Ethereum in yet another key metric.

Meanwhile, the consistent growth of Solana LSTs (Liquid Staking Token) appears to be plateauing, with net LST flows turning negative on weekly and monthly timeframes.

SOLANA FLIPS ETHEREUM ON REVENUE GENERATION
Off the back of a massive month of DeFi trading activity, Solana’s network revenue has surpassed Ethereum’s on a daily timeframe.

According to Artemis data, Solana has slowly closed the gap on Ethereum in terms of revenue generation before finally surging past its biggest rival. On July 28th, the Solana network generated over $1 .2M in revenue, lending credibility to the network’s economic model.

This is good news for Solana validator operators and stakers. Not only does surging revenue translate to greater earnings for stakers, Solana’s increasing transaction counts also burn SOL tokens. Burning 50% of every transaction fee, this mechanism helps to counter SOL issuance and inflation, building a more sustainable token economy.

SOL TOKEN BURNS
Based on the last seven days of Dune Analytics data, the Solana token burn mechanism has burnt 38,145 SOL, currently valued at over $6 .92M. Despite burning over 5,000 SOL per day, the Solana network still issues just over 160,000 SOL through validator rewards.

LIQUID STAKING FLOUNDERS
Solana’s thriving liquid staking economy has enjoyed immense growth throughout the year. However, the TVL (Total Value Locked) of liquid-staked SOL has dropped over the last 30 days, signaling that interest in LST assets has plateaued.

According to Dune Analytics data, the total number of SOL staked through LSTs reduced by over 128k in the last 30 days, with 42.41% (45,411 SOL) of that figure being withdrawn in the last 7 days.

This decrease is likely due to the withdrawal of capital from Sanctum’s popular LST ecosystem, which attracted over $1B in TVL from depositors in anticipation of Sanctum’s initial CLOUD airdrop.

In a bid to attract more liquid stakers to their validator, Jupiter implemented a dramatic change in their fee structure. On July 22nd, Jupiter announced that 80% of block rewards would go to jupSOL, increased from 50%.

Meanwhile, Step Finance launched another addition to its growing ecosystem. In collaboration with Sanctum, Step Finance unveiled its proprietary LST, stepSOL, which provides holders with STEP reward options on top of all the existing benefits of liquid-staked assets.

THE RETURN OF NATIVE STAKING??
With attention shifting away from LSTs, this may be an excellent opportunity for the Solana community to explore native staking. While not offering the flexibility of liquid staking, native staking provides greater security and peace of mind for SOL stakers.

One of the longest-serving DeFi protocols in the ecosystem, Marinade Finance offers one of Solana’s most powerful staking services. Optimized to provide stakers with the best possible staking rewards across an aggregated pool of leading validators, Marinade offers Solana’s only automated non-custodial staking tool.

What’s more, novel features like Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace and Protected Staking Rewards ensure users maximum rewards, while benefitting from the inherent security of native staking.

At press time, Marinade Finance is Solana’s most popular staking provider, attracting over 147k unique accounts. Offering comprehensive support for Solana staking, Marinade has attracted over $1 .4B in TVL, with 32.15% of this figure directed to native staking according to Dune Analytics.

Between Solana’s explosive revenue generation and the vast range of staking products available in the ecosystem through projects like Marinade, there’s never been a better time to stake SOL.

Bitcoin and more generally cryptos will soon create new millionaires, and this in a few clicks 📈

Simple ? 🤔

The hardest part is being one of the winners in the long term to be able to benefit from it 💪

July 19th’s devastating IT outage left hundreds of businesses across the world scrambling to provide basic services. A software bug that was prematurely pushed to production wrought havoc across the globe, temporarily shutting down banks, airlines, and essential services.

Cryptocurrency may not have been a solution to this particular problem, but the event still exposed the vulnerabilities and flaws of our reliance on centralized infrastructure.

What makes DePINs more resilient than centralized alternatives and why is Solana so well-equipped to support decentralized infrastructure?

SECURITY THROUGH DECENTRALIZATION
One of the fundamental staples of the cryptocurrency industry, decentralization is key to avoiding singular points of failure. Drawing resources and infrastructure from distributed sources makes any entity vastly more robust.

Despite detractors arguing that the network is dangerously centralized, Solana has proven its critics wrong, establishing itself as one of the industry’s most decentralized blockchains. A common and admittedly simplified measure of network decentralization, Solana boasts a Nakamoto Coefficient that surpasses the bulk of its rivals.

However, where Solana gains its edge is through the development of alternative validator clients. Barring Ethereum, most Layer One blockchains rely on one sole validator client. Ironically, if a software bug was pushed to production, as was the case with the CrowdStrike outage, these blockchains could also fall victim to a complete network outage.

On the other hand, Solana is on track to eliminate this vulnerability. The network currently hosts two independent validator clients. Solana’s network resilience will go to new heights with the deployment of Jump Crypto’s Firedancer client, which completely rewrites the network into a different programming language from scratch, eliminating the risk of one bug affecting various clients.

Not only is Solana becoming more decentralized by the day, but the network’s thriving DePIN sector is witnessing unrivaled adoption.

SOLANA LEADS REAL WORLD DePIN ADOPTION
Crypto’s DePIN sector is vague. Despite deploying zero infrastructure and offering no proof-of-concept, hundreds of different projects are categorized as DePIN protocols by various blockchain data sites.

For example, CoinMarketCap’s DePIN category features over 140 different DePIN projects but includes Layer 1 blockchains like Internet Computer (ICP). DePinScan, a research tool operated by IoTeX, lists 262 DePin cryptocurrency projects. Other resources, like EV3’s depin.ninja platform, suggests over 300 DePIN protocols are being built on Ethereum alone.

With such ambiguity surrounding what defines a DePIN network, how can we track the manner in which DePINs are actually being deployed and used?

Physical Infrastructure. Among hundreds of supposed DePIN projects, which protocols can individuals see first-hand through real-world devices or Proof-of-Concept?

According to EV3, Solana-based projects dominate their competitors in terms of active node deployments, with projects like Helium, Hivemapper, and Natix each operating hundreds of thousands of devices.

Courtesy of its unmatched scalability and performance, the Solana network is a natural choice for businesses looking to deploy DePINs. In the current blockchain landscape, no other blockchain is adequately equipped to support the data transmission of hundreds of thousands of devices without suffering debilitating latency issues and gas spikes.

Additionally, Solana benefits from the widespread use of mobile devices. Solana Saga, the network’s Web 3 phone, sold out following a collaboration with BONK and the second iteration has been preordered over 140,000 times.

With the future of the internet expected to be driven by mobile-first usage, the Solana network is ideally placed to establish itself as the leading chain for DePIN protocols.

Breaking new all-time highs in TVL every month this year, Solana LSTs (Liquid Staking Tokens) have established themselves as one of the fundamental pillars of the ecosystem.

Yet, despite its growing popularity and the wealth of benefits, only 6.4% of all staked SOL is liquid staked, suggesting plenty of Solana users still have some lingering questions about LSTs.

What is liquid staking on Solana? How do Solana LSTs work and why should Solana users consider leveraging LSTs to optimize their DeFi strategies?

With one of Solana's longest-standing protocols launching liquid staking services, there's never been a better time to refresh your knowledge.

What is Liquid Staking MEV?
MEV, or Maximum Extractable Value, is an umbrella term that covers a range of profit-generation strategies and arbitrage opportunities that occur within block production.

For example, by rearranging the order of transactions within a processing queue, MEV tools can profit from mismatched prices in liquidity pools across different DEXes. Some Liquid Staking providers, like Jito, eliminate MEV spam transactions and pass these rewards on to stakers, effectively boosting their staking rewards.

To date, Jito has captured over 31,000 SOL in MEV fees, sharing a percentage of these fees with over 100,000 active accounts who liquid stake their SOL tokens through the Jito protocol.

What are the Benefits of Liquid Staking?
Liquid staking has become a key component of Solana’s DeFi landscape, and for good reason. Here’s why:

1. Earn staking rewards without locking SOL - Solana LSTs make it possible to continue earning generous staking rewards, without losing immediate access to your staked assets.

2. Expanded liquidity and DeFi strategies - Users can leverage their LSTs to capitalize on DeFi yield generation strategies, while still earning staking rewards.

3. Contribute to Solana’s security and decentralization - By liquid staking SOL tokens, users help to further decentralize and secure the Solana network by delegating SOL across a variety of validators.

What are the risks of liquid Staking?
While there are plenty of reasons to use liquid staking on Solana, it’s not without its flaws. Some of the risks associated with Solana LSTs include:

Smart contract risk - LST protocols rely on smart contracts to operate. If any of these contracts is exploited by a malicious actor, stakers could be a
risk of losing their funds.

LST price depeg - Despite typically maintaining their pegged value, LST tokens on other blockchains have fallen victim to temporary price depegs in the past. This could be problematic during black swan events or periods of market turmoil.

Where Can I Liquid Stake my SOL Tokens?
Now that you’ve got a better understanding of how liquid staking on Solana works, let’s recap some of the most reliable and trustworthy liquid staking providers in the market

ANNOUNCING STEPSOL - POWERED BY STEP FINANCE & SANCTUM

STEPSOL
Entering Solana's flourishing LST landscape for the first time, Step Finance is one of the oldest Solana applications in the ecosystem. Doubling as an intuitive portfolio dashboard and a comprehensive DeFi and NFT analytics platform, Step recently expanded its extensive product offering to include its LST, stepSOL.

On top of earning generous APY, stepSOL holders are also eligible to earn additional STEP Reward Options, which are claimable every five days via the Step Finance dashboard. Stakers who've already delegated their SOL to the Step Validator can head to Sanctum's Stake Accounts page and convert their stake account to stepSOL.

What's more, Step Finance has partnered with Meteora and will be offering incentivized rewards through the following pools:
•STEP/stepSOL

•xSTEP/stepSOL

•stepSOL/edgeSOL

Crypto Community Smug About Global IT Outage, But Does Blockchain Actually Fix This?
A software bug invoked international hysteria when a bug in a Windows content update shut down banks, airlines, and emergency services.

Showcasing the world’s reliance on centralized systems, a global IT outage brought the world to its knees. Across the planet, major service providers like banks, supermarkets, and logistics companies found themselves unable to operate, causing significant disruption.

Eager to prove its relevance, the crypto community was quick to launch a tirade of smug comments. “Crypto fixes this” was heard across social media platforms, with crypto advocates championing blockchain as an obvious solution to singular points of failure.

But is that truly the case? While decentralization aims to eliminate centralized points of failure, would blockchain solutions actually have prevented this widespread technical meltdown?

What Happened?
The chaos began when CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity provider, pushed a defective single content update to Windows hosts. The bug affected millions of Microsoft Windows devices all over the world, causing infinite reboot loops and leaving users staring at Windows’ infamous BSoD (Blue Screen of Death).

Attempting to bring clarity to the situation CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, released a statement on 𝕏. Assuring affected users that “this is not a security incident or cyberhack”, the CEO claims that “the issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed”.

While Kurtz has indicated that a fix has been deployed, Windows users globally report still being unable to access their devices.

Fortunately, savvy developers were on hand to remedy the situation and provide timely solutions.

Affected users can reboot their Windows devices in Safe Mode and delete the defective update file, or wait until CrowdStrike implemented resolution is distributed.

CRWD stock

In traditional markets, CrowdStrike stock (CRWD) suffered a crippling blow, down 8.82% in today’s trading, based on NASDAQ data. While this might seem insignificant when compared to crypto’s volatility, price movements of this scale are uncommon in traditional markets.

Does Crypto Really Fix This?
The crypto community wasted no time calling out the flaws of centralized systems and singular points of failure. Citing mass outages like today’s as evidence that decentralized systems are the future of infrastructure, crypto advocates were quick to leverage the event as an example of “Bitcoin fixes this”.

However, not all pockets of the crypto community were in agreement. Several blockchain developers and engineers highlighted that in this specific example, pushing bugged code to production would likely have the same effect to blockchain networks.

Despite the specifics and technicalities, the event serves as a powerful reminder of the flaws in centralized services and singular points of failure. Commentators remarked that society’s reliance on centralized companies and infrastructure providers doesn’t bode well for our future.

This belief reinforces the viability of DePin technology, which aims to distribute services across a variety of independent providers and establish more secure and reliable infrastructure. Frank Mathis, founder of GenesysGo, highlights the importance of conducting rigorous security checks before pushing software updates.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology may not have been a direct solution to this particular problem. However, global outages like the CrowdStrike defect help to promote discussion around the benefits of decentralization and distributed systems.

Of all the stupid “challenges” loser internet dorks desperate for clout do, one has actually come along that is beneficial.

“Raw dogging flights” as it’s called.

I see this to be a positive mental test/exercise and I encourage more challenges like it.

Not totally useless.

IP remains stuck in an outdated legal system that makes it difficult to license, monetize, & trade effectively

That's where StoryProtocol comes in -- a new blockchain that aims to transform IP into liquid, programmable, & ownable digital assets

A 101 Explainer👇

What is Story Network?

Story Network was created specifically for bringing IP onchain, making it easier to manage and monetize.

On Story Network, IP is represented as onchain assets called IP Assets, which are NFTs. These NFTs carry detailed metadata about the underlying IP and serve as its digital representations. They can be linked to existing NFTs, e.g. a CryptoPunk, or be issued to represent offchain items.

Each IP Asset is linked to an IP Account, a specialized smart contract that manages interactions and data related to the IP.

Also at the heart of Story Network is its Proof-of-Creativity (PoC) Protocol, which facilitates the creation and management of IP Assets, enabling use cases like permissionless licensing and automated royalty payments.

Another key pillar here is the Programmable IP License (PIL), a legal framework that bridges the onchain world with traditional legal systems, ensuring that the digital representation of IP on Story Network is enforceable in the real world.

How is Story Network designed?

Story Network is a Layer 1 (L1) blockchain optimized for handling complex IP data structures efficiently that leans on elements from both the ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the cosmos
SDK.

Notably, Story Network is EVM-equivalent, meaning it supports the same code execution environment as Ethereum. This compatibility allows developers to port existing applications and smart contracts written in Ethereum's popular Solidity programming language to Story Network with minimal or no changes.

Why tokenize IP on Story Network?

Tokenizing IP on Story Network offers several notable benefits:

🌊 Liquidity — IP can be traded or used as collateral, creating new financial opportunities.

🧱 Programmability — Automated actions like royalty payments can be embedded within IP NFTs, simplifying management.

🔍 Transparency — The underlying blockchain provides a clear and immutable record of IP ownership and transactions.

These are compelling pillars for content creators, but what will the actual use cases look like?

For instance, artists, musicians, writers, and beyond can register their IP as NFTs on Story Network, set licensing terms, and automate royalty payments. This makes it easier to control and monetize their work.

For developers, they can build applications that leverage tokenized IP. Think things like AI model marketplaces, content remixing platforms, and DeFi apps that use IP NFTs as collateral.

Two of the earliest app examples in the Story ecosystem are Magma and Mahojin. The former is a collaborative design tool that uses Story Network to manage and monetize creative works via NFTs, while the latter is a platform for AI training data and models.

Zooming out

How might making IP programmable and liquid influence the interaction between creators and consumers? Will tokenizing and trading IP democratize access to creative works? And how effectively can the PIL system adapt to diverse global legal landscapes, especially as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent?

The answers to these questions remain to be seen, but Story Network is diving in here in unprecedented fashion and looking to revolutionize the future of digital IP through the cryptoeconomy. As the chain evolves and gains traction, its bull case is its potential to redefine IP management to be better in line with the content challenges of the 21st century.

Can Story win out, then? We'll see, but this innovative reach into a new terrain is exciting nonetheless!

By WPeaster

PREMIERE:

Diversify your citizenship now!

Given the current global landscape, is it a good idea to diversify your citizenship?

Andrew Henderson is an entrepreneur, a global citizen of nearly a dozen countries around the world, & founder nomadcapitalist
, which helps people maximize their freedom by getting multiple citizenships & passports

Hear why considering a 2nd or 3rd citizenship might be beneficial, the most crypto-friendly jurisdictions, & what an exit tax entails

Jump in 👇

Daily Memecoin Recap - July 8

In these market conditions, 99.9% of coins die within the same day

Learn to make your money & move onto the next opportunity

Messi Promotion
$water -> $24 .95m to $133m (5.33x)
- Lionel Messi posts a promotion for $water on his ig story
- Water team has hella money to spend

Pauly Pushes a New Coin
$cam -> hit $3 .84m,
Pauly0x, coin about bigbendoteth

Solly Relaunch
$solly -> hit $11m , claims they relaunched because some KOLs dumped the chart

Retardio ATH
$retardio -> $12 .6m to $74 .7m (5.96x from the low)
- One of the most insane communities on CT

Dog Memes
$boppy -> $182k to $1 .2m (6.62x), CTO
$gibby -> hit $1m , CTO, good volume
$pluto -> hit $990k
$ranchy -> hit $900k , CTO, infinitely memeable cute dog
$pup -> hit $490k , "pupcorn"

Cat Memes
$mao -> $760k to $4 .57m (6x), CTO, either a dead cat bounce or coming back to life
$gm -> $405k to $1 .48m (3.65x), good ticker
$bub -> hit $1m , this meme has been done multiple times
$tard -> hit $550k , CTO
$chandi -> hit $520k ,
bsol_x's cat, not her coin

Moonshot Launches
$landlord -> $1 .81m to $7 .34m (4.05x),
dexscreener's moonshot
$notsec -> hit $3 .64m
$josh -> hit $900k , "strongest man on solana"
$obema -> hit $560k , redacted MichelleObama

More Cooks
$lockin -> $16 .56m to $37m (2.23x), solid community, lockin has cemented itself as a leader in the slang meta
$nomnom -> $802k to $4m (4.98x)
$shork -> $555k to $1 .42m (2.55x), team continues to push, originally launched by yelotree

$typeshit -> $420k to $2 .7m (6.42x), normie approved meme, goated CTO team, good community
$max -> hit $14 .5m, heavily bundled
$rocky -> hit $2 .2m, good team & community, literally just a rock
$glitch -> hit $1m
$mitty -> hit $826k , "
Matt_Furie's pet hamster"

Volume is low, most coins are pump & dumps

It's all about who can exit first at the moment, no one wants to hold for long

$sol to $250 asap pls