1. OpenSea is Developing an Upgrade Called OpenSea 2.0 link

NFT marketplace OpenSea’s CEO, Devin Finzer, stated in an interview that the company is currently developing a platform upgrade called OpenSea 2.0. The upgrade aims to provide users with a better experience and address differentiation between NFT categories as more token use cases are developed. Currently, NFTs on OpenSea and other platforms are displayed similarly, regardless of whether they are game tokens or event tickets. OpenSea is working on displaying ticket NFTs on the calendar and sorting them by date. Finzer has been tracking the increasing use of the Solana blockchain in NFTs and the growing popularity of Ordinals. He remains optimistic about Ethereum being the preferred blockchain for NFTs, especially with the potential for L2 solutions to make transactions cheaper and faster.

2. dYdX Surpasses Uniswap to Become the Largest DEX by Trading Volume link

According to CoinMarketCap data, the decentralized exchange dYdX, which recently migrated from Ethereum to Cosmos, has surpassed Uniswap, becoming the DEX with the highest 24-hour trading volume. The data shows that dYdX v4, based on Cosmos, achieved a trading volume of $757 million in the last 24 hours, surpassing Uniswap v3, which had a trading volume of $608 million. The still-operating dYdX v3 market ranks third with a trading volume of $567 million.

3. MakerDAO’s RWA Assets Shrink to $2.1 Billion, Accounting for Only 44% of MakerDAO’s Total Revenue link

In MakerDAO’s annual revenue of $243 million, cryptocurrency-backed loans contributed over $122 million, accounting for over 50%. Meanwhile, Real World Asset (RWA) holdings have decreased to $2.1 billion, representing only 44% of MakerDAO’s revenue. This indicates a significant rebound in native DeFi loans. In November 2023, MakerDAO’s RWA assets briefly exceeded $3.5 billion, contributing to over two-thirds of MakerDAO’s income at that time.

4. Blast Announces the Official Launch of its Testnet and Introduces Blast BIG BANG Competition link

Blast has announced the official launch of its testnet and introduced the Blast BIG BANG competition. The winning dapp in the contest will be promoted to Blast users after the mainnet launch at the end of February. Additionally, 50% of the Blast airdrop has been allocated to developers, while the remaining 50% is distributed to Blast’s staking users (100k+). Blast will also assist the winning dapp teams in connecting with investors. As of the 17th, Blast’s total value locked (TVL) has reached $1.368 billion, including 478,089.7353 ETH staked in Lido and 125,748,186.1242 DAI in MakerDAO, according to DeBank data.

5. Conflux Announces the Launch of EVM-Compatible Bitcoin Layer 2, Using BTC as Gas Fees link

Conflux has announced the launch of an EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2) solution that will use BTC as gas fees. The testnet is expected to launch in February-March 2024, with the mainnet scheduled for May 2024.

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6. South Korean Public Blockchain Project Klaytn and LINE’s Finschia Propose On-chain Merger link

Instant messaging application LINE is introducing the blockchain project Finschia, proposing a mainnet merger with the Korean public chain Klaytn. They plan to issue a new integrated token (PDT), and holders of FNSA and KLAY will be eligible to claim it. The merger plan includes burning about 24% of the existing supply, reducing the inflation rate to 5.2%, and introducing a new three-tier burn model. The vote is scheduled to take place from January 26 to February 2 (Beijing time). If approved, they plan to establish an integrated foundation in the second quarter and launch new token exchanges and business plans for the merged mainnet.

7. Binance’s New Launchpool Project MANTA Faces Allegations of Team Dumping or Money Laundering Upon Listing link

The South Korean community (변창호 코인사관학교) alleges that the Binance new Launchpool project MANTA may have engaged in team dumping or money laundering during its listing. When MANTA was listed, initially, 2.7 million MANTA was deposited into the South Korean exchange Bithumb, with a total of 2 million MANTA transferred from the address: 0x96…E8aF. Users were unable to claim the airdrop due to the website crash. Through tracking this address and the owned NFT (Sprotolady 4123), it points to the Korean BD Sumeley (later renamed velty) affiliated with the Manta team.

Within 5 minutes of listing, the Bithumb MANTA price soared to $4.68. The BD sold 2 million MANTA and converted it into 2,094.7 ETH (about $5.1 million; a large amount of ETH purchases were captured on Bithumb). The funds were then transferred to their own address: 0x96…E8aF and eventually moved to an unidentified address: 0x4A…261F. Additionally, 7 hours ago, the BD wallet received another 1 million MANTA, but there was no further action.

From the actual situation, this appears to be the personal account of Manta team’s Korean BD. However, given the substantial amount, it is more likely to be assets held by the team. The South Korean community has several potential inferences: (1) The Manta team laundered funds through Bithumb (MANTA deposit -> KRW -> ETH withdrawal), but South Korea has strict restrictions on money laundering and real-name financial transactions; (2) The Manta team used the Korean market on the listing day as a liquidity exit, dumping a large number of tokens; (3) Individual actions of the Korean BD may involve significant tax evasion; (4) Bithumb failed to monitor abnormal transfers.

Manta Network responded, stating that the funds were allocated to the Korean market expansion (BD) according to the token economic model.

8. BIT to Launch Spot Trading Zone for BRC20 Tokens in the Near Future link

Cryptocurrency exchange BIT has announced a collaboration with digital asset custody solution provider Cobo. With the support of Cobo’s wallet-as-a-service solution, BIT will soon launch a spot trading section for BRC20 tokens, allowing on-platform users to showcase their positions and holdings distribution. Through this partnership, users can deposit, withdraw, and trade BRC20 tokens on BIT, participate in the BRC20 token ecosystem, and realize cost savings on transaction fees while reducing the entry barriers.

9. HTX DAO Announces its Establishment link

HTX DAO has officially been established with technical support from Tron. It claims that “every HTX token holder can participate in project governance,” hinting at a potential transition from the original Huobi Token (HT) to the new token, HTX.

10. Azuki Announces its Intellectual Property Strategy link

Azuki announced its intellectual property (IP) strategy on January 13, encompassing three branches: anime, physical products, and gaming. The objective is to establish Azuki as a globally recognized anime IP. In the realm of anime, Azuki is collaborating with Goro Taniguchi and the leading Japanese advertising and production agency Dentsu to produce the first episode of the Azuki Selection series, expected to be released in the second quarter. For physical products, Azuki will launch the BEANZ x BROWN golden toy. In the gaming sector, a super-casual mobile game featuring BEANZ is set to be released later this year.

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