Prizmabet

Crypto at a Pivotal Moment

The U.S. election combined with an easier monetary environment could spark the next crypto bull market, says David Lawant.

Seismic events often trigger crypto-asset market cycle transitions. The 2016-2017 cycle was largely industry-driven, expanding crypto’s reach beyond early adopters. In contrast, the 2020-2021 surge was propelled by unprecedented COVID-era interest rate cuts.

Now, two powerful catalysts converge: the looming 2024 U.S. elections and a nascent global liquidity cycle for risk assets. This potent combination could shatter bitcoin’s $58,000 to $70,000 trading range, where it has largely remained since late March, potentially igniting the next major market movement.

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2024 U.S. elections likely to gain importance as election day nears

This election cycle marks several firsts for crypto, primarily how the industry emerged as a relevant topic in political discourse and campaign financing. Another interesting trend is how Polymarket, a breakthrough crypto application, now provides real-time estimates of consensus on election results, with over $1 billion at stake.

The chart below shows the relationship between two factors over 3-day periods: changes in Republican win odds on Polymarket and changes in bitcoin prices as a proxy for overall crypto market performance. Different election phases are color-coded: gray for the initial phase (before June 26), red for the period of Republican momentum (between the end of June and the end of July), blue for Democratic gains (between the end of July and mid-August), and black for the final stretch (since mid-August).

If the market linked crypto prices directly to Republican win odds, the dots in the chart above would form an upward-sloping 45-degree line. Conversely, a direct link to Democratic win odds would show a similar, but downward-sloping, line. Instead, we see a scattered cloud of dots, indicating no clear, consistent trend between election outcomes and crypto prices so far.

This dynamic is evident across all phases highlighted in different colors throughout the scatterplot. Although the relationship is stronger during the phase of Republican momentum, it still explains less than 20% of bitcoin price movements.

This doesn’t mean the elections are unimportant for crypto price action. It is possible, if not likely, that this relationship strengthens as we approach Election Day, now less than one month away. But this inconsistent relationship suggests that other critical factors have also been dominating crypto market price action.

Interest rate outlook hints at novel regime for crypto prices

Recent global liquidity shifts have driven markets worldwide, including crypto. The Federal Reserve’s strong start to this rate-cut cycle, coupled with China’s surprising market-lifting measures, likely fueled crypto’s recent price surge.

Unlike equities, crypto lacks extensive historical data for gauging returns across different interest rate regimes.

Nevertheless, examining crypto prices against rate environments remains instructive. The chart below shows the effective federal funds rate alongside Treasury constant-maturity yields from 1-year to 30-year tenors. For context, the lower chart displays bitcoin’s USD price (in log scale for perspective), with color-coded market cycles: green for the 2016-2017 and 2020-2021 bull markets, red for the 2018 and 2022 bear markets.

This chart suggests that a soft landing with lower rates — the current investor consensus — would create an unprecedented macro backdrop for crypto. This scenario differs from both the industry-driven 2016-2017 cycle and the COVID era, rate-cut-fueled, 2020-2021 surge.

Consequently, macroeconomic factors are expected to significantly influence crypto prices in the near term, as evidenced by strengthening correlations between crypto and broader risk assets.

Looking ahead

Low crypto liquidity following Labor Day indicates a market in wait-and-see mode. While factors such as geopolitical tensions and supply/demand imbalances can still influence the market, two primary drivers most likely to define market direction into 2025 are still the upcoming election and global liquidity conditions. The next one to three months will be crucial in revealing how these trends will unfold.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

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The Rise of Index Investing in Crypto

Despite undeniable growth, crypto remains volatile, posing challenges for even seasoned investors. An increasingly popular solution to navigating these risks is crypto index investing, says Julien Vallet, CEO, Finst.

Cryptocurrency has evolved as a global asset class with significant implications for modern investment portfolios. Despite undeniable growth, crypto remains volatile, posing challenges for even seasoned investors. An increasingly popular solution to navigating these risks is crypto index investing. Crypto index funds are products that bundle multiple cryptocurrencies into a single vehicle, offering a diversified, systematic approach to gaining exposure to the digital asset market while mitigating some of its inherent risks.

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The value of crypto index investing

Increasing popularity among institutional investors

An increasing number of institutional investors are looking for ways to participate in crypto without taking on unnecessary risk. Index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on digital assets have emerged as a compelling option. We’ve experienced this trend as well with 30% of our retail and institutional clients opting to diversify their portfolios through a crypto index bundle.

Tailoring the index to investor goals

Crypto index funds have the ability to tailor exposure based on specific investment goals and risk tolerance. Some indexes focus exclusively on large-cap cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, providing a stable base of well-established assets. Others may prioritize high-growth sectors like decentralized finance or newer blockchain protocols, offering higher potential upside alongside increased risk.

Selecting the right index strategy depends on a detailed understanding of the underlying assets and market dynamics. Diversified exposure can enhance the risk-adjusted return profile of a portfolio, but the nuances of index composition should align with an investor’s broader strategy.

Index investing offers a strategic, risk-managed approach for professional investors looking to capitalize on the crypto market’s growth. By offering diversified exposure, reducing operational complexity, and providing a controlled entry into the crypto ecosystem, index funds and ETFs are becoming valuable tools for those navigating the digital asset landscape.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

EigenLayer’s Token Launch Draws Scrutiny Over Supply Concerns

The token has dropped from $4.39 to $3.57 since it went live.

In some ways, the release of EigenLayer’s native EIGEN token this week went as expected.

The price surged moments after it was listed on exchanges, leading to a price discovery period culminating in a 22% slide from its momentary record high.

But there appears to be a more serious issue brewing, with investors and community members complaining about a lack of transparency regarding token supply.

EIGEN’s total supply is fixed at 1.68 billion and its circulating supply is 186 million. These figures give the asset a fully diluted value of $5.8 billion and a market cap, excluding tokens not in circulation, of $650 million. The issue many community members raise stems from a portion of those locked tokens, which belong to early investors that bought during heavily-discounted funding rounds.

Investors that bought in EigenLayer’s $14.4 million seed round, $50 million Series A and most recent $100 million raise in February now can stake their locked tokens to yield rewards. As it stands, there are 130 million EIGEN tokens staked. Many believed these were all a part of the claimed tokens but in fact, 70 million of these tokens belong to this small group of early investors.

Data availability protocol Celestia suffered a similar issue following its token launch, as early investors staked their dominant TIA stacks to receive tradable rewards, which many then traded away. TIA has plunged 75% since February.

EigenLayer investor TardFiWhale.eth wrote on X that the project recently updated its documents to state that “Eigen Labs investors are not restricted from staking” and that rewards are not subject to lock-ups. The X post claims this information wasn’t in an archived document from mid-September.

EigenLayer’s blog post on “token disclosures” was last revised on Sept. 30.

“Transparency will enable us to engage in more honest and open discussions about these issues,” TardFiWhale.eth wrote. “I personally believe that allowing investors with locked EIGEN to stake makes sense from a governance perspective, given the complexity and goals of Eigenlayer. However, I also believe that the rewards earned from staking should be locked until the cliff is reached” at the end of the 12-month vesting period.

EigenLayer allocated 86 million tokens to early adopters including node operators and stakers, but even this has led to criticism as whales were able to receive disproportionate rewards compared to the general population. Tron founder Justin Sun received an airdrop worth $8.75 million, almost all of which was deposited to HTX, the exchange formerly known as Huobi, according to data provider Arkham.

EIGEN recently traded at $3.57, having initially surged as high as $4.39, CoinMarketCap data shows.

An EigenLayer spokesperson offered no comment by press time.

Indiana Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing $38M in Crypto Via ‘Cyber Intrusion’

Evan Light, 21, faces up to 40 years in prison for his role in the crime.

An Indiana man has pleaded guilty to taking part in the “cyber intrusion” of a Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based financial services company, during which he and unnamed co-conspirators hacked into the company’s servers, stole customers’ personal information, and then stole nearly $38 million in cryptocurrency from 571 victims.

According to his plea agreement, 21-year-old Evan Light, of Lebanon, Indiana, and his unnamed co-conspirators were able to infiltrate the unnamed company’s servers after stealing the identity of one of its clients. They then used that client’s information to illegally gain access to the company’s servers and carry out the theft.

After the theft, Light pleaded guilty to laundering the group’s ill-gotten gains, funneling them through “multiple mixing services and gambling websites” to conceal his identity and the identities of his co-conspirators. He also pleaded guilty to wiring the proceeds and then storing them in a cold wallet under his control.

“These convictions reflect the relentless efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI in identifying a cybercriminal, holding him accountable, and prioritizing the victims of his crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell in a Tuesday press release. “Although this defendant tried to hide in the shadows of a cyber underworld, he was not beyond the reach of our team, and today’s guilty verdicts should serve as a reminder that this Office and its law enforcement partners will bring cyber criminals to justice, regardless how sophisticated their crimes may be.”

The theft took place in February 2022. According to a local news outlet, the FBI raided Light’s residence, which he shared with his mother, in May 2023, approximately two weeks after he was indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Both counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, meaning Light faces up to 40 years in prison. No date has yet been set for Light’s sentencing.

The Protocol: Inside North Korea’s Campaign to Put Crypto Developers on Payroll

In this week’s issue of CoinDesk’s weekly blockchain tech newsletter, we’ve got names, details and anecdotes on crypto companies’ unwitting hires of North Korean developers. PLUS month-end rankings for bitcoin, ether and other digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 index during a strangely bullish September.

When trying to determine if your crypto company might be unwittingly employing North Korean workers, sometimes it helps to pay attention to little details that just don’t seem to add up – such as when your workers claim they were distracted by an earthquake in Japan, when there was no recent earthquake in Japan. That’s just one of the tantalizing details from our Sam Kessler’s investigative opus, hot off the press, detailing North Korea’s successful campaign to place its workers on crypto-company payrolls.

ALSO:

Network News

“Naoki Murano,” one of the suspected North Korean IT workers identified by ZachXBT, provided companies with an authentic-looking Japanese passport. (Image courtesy of Taylor Monahan)

HERMIT EMPIRE: An investigation published Wednesday by CoinDesk’s Sam Kessler reveals just how aggressively and frequently North Korean job applicants have targeted crypto companies in particular – successfully navigating interviews, passing reference checks, even presenting impressive histories of code contributions on the open-source software repository GitHub.

Kessler spoke to more than a dozen crypto companies that said they inadvertently hired IT workers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as the nation is officially called. These interviews with founders, blockchain researchers and industry experts reveal that North Korean IT workers are far more prevalent in the crypto industry than previously thought. Virtually every hiring manager approached by CoinDesk for this story acknowledged that they had interviewed suspected North Korean developers, hired them unwittingly, or knew someone who had.

“The percentage of your incoming resumes, or people asking for jobs, or wanting to contribute – any of that stuff – that are probably from North Korea is greater than 50% across the entire crypto industry,” said Zaki Manian, a prominent blockchain developer who says he inadvertently hired two DPRK IT workers to help develop the Cosmos Hub blockchain in 2021. “Everyone is struggling to filter out these people.”

Among the unwitting DPRK employers identified by CoinDesk were several well-established blockchain projects, such as Cosmos Hub, Injective, ZeroLend, Fantom, Sushi and Yearn Finance. “This has all been happening behind the scenes,” said Manian. This investigation marks the first time any of these companies have publicly acknowledged that they inadvertently hired DPRK IT workers.

ELSEWHERE:

Crypto Winter-Era Seed Startups Mostly Persist Despite Tumult and Crisis

Ethereum had the most projects among the 2022 cohort, Bitcoin had the lowest fail rate, and Binance had the highest fail rate. (Lattice)

Crypto’s hellish 2022 was awash in washouts: Terra-Luna crashed, FTX rugged and crypto lenders bombed. Yet the disasters failed to sink many of the teams perhaps most vulnerable to mayhem: early-stage startups.

Over 80% of the crypto startups that announced seed rounds in 2022 continue to build today, according to a new report from Lattice VC.

The finding may add some retrospective hope to what was otherwise crypto’s darkest year yet. Venture capital companies deployed over $5 billion into 1,200 teams that unveiled their seed rounds during the tumultuous months of 2022 – 2.5 times more capital than in 2021.

“Because of the massive influx of capital for 2022, there was just a natural expectation” of a higher fail rate, said Mike Zajko, co-founder at Lattice. The prediction hasn’t really come to fruition.

Go here for the full article by CoinDesk’s Danny Nelson

Money Center

Fundraisings

Deals and grants

Jon Atack (Maelstrom)

Data and Tokens

Regulatory, Policy, and Legal

Protocol Village

Top picks of the past week from our Protocol Village column, highlighting key blockchain tech upgrades and news.

Diagram of Strata’s system architecture (Strata)

Bitcoin’s Uncharacteristically Strong September Yields to Unpleasant October Surprise

Bitcoin (BTC) is suffering its worst start to October, typically its most bullish month, as Israel-Iran tensions have flared. Some $450 million in bullish crypto bets were liquidated.

September, on the other hand, looked bullish – typically in the largest cryptocurrency’s worst month of the year.

Looking back on September, the CoinDesk 20 index of blue-chip digital assets outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as well as gold. Here’s what that looked like, courtesy of my colleague Tracy Stephens at CoinDesk Indices

(Tracy Stephens/CoinDesk Indices)

Bitcoin (BTC), despite gaining an entirely respectable 8.3% during the month, was a bit of a laggard compared to the rest of the CoinDesk 20 members.

The alternative layer-1 blockchain’s NEAR token topped the charts, with a 36% climb.

Ethereum’s ETH put in another month of subpar performance, in what has been an inarguably lackluster year for the largest smart-contract blockchain.

Polygon’s MATIC, which is being swapped out for a new token called POL, was the index’s sole loser during the month, sliding 3.2%.

Calendar

Fan Tokens Have Much Larger Market Than NFTs, Says Chiliz CEO as Blockchain Prepares New Memecoin ‘Pepper’

Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfusal called out the disproportionate hype around NFTs in comparison to fan tokens in an interview with CoinDesk.

SINGAPORE — The Chiliz blockchain is aiming to become “the sports blockchain,” its CEO Alexandre Dreyfus said in an interview with CoinDesk while calling fan tokens’ market is much larger than non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Dreyfus also said that, starting October 10, Chiliz is planning on launching a memecoin called Pepper. The reason for the new memecoin is “well, Chili Pepper,” he said.

The Chiliz blockchain’s native token is CHZ and it powers Socios.com, the largest sports fan token creator platform. Pepper will be airdropped to CHZ token holders but not for U.S. citizens and it can be farmed. Upbit crypto exchange in South Korea was the first exchange which announced its listing.

In March, leading up to the 2024 UEFA Euro football championships, prices of the CHZ token rose 25% in seven days, reaching a two-month high of over $0.15. It has since fallen to $0.068, according to CoinDesk data. It remains the number one sports token in the world by market cap.

“The chain is becoming what we aimed it to become, which is the sports blockchain,” said Dreyfus. “It’s unique. We are the only ones doing what we do. And we don’t want to do anything else.”

NFTs vs. fan tokens

Dreyfus is looking to change the narrative around fan tokens, stating that their growth was under-recognized in comparison to NFTs.

“No offence to the NFT community but what people don’t realize [is that] fan tokens are a much bigger market than NFTs,” he said pointing to data that largely reflected the current 24-hour volume for NFTs at around $6.8 million, while for fan tokens it’s at $134 million, according to Coingecko.

“Of course, we’re comparing apples and oranges. One is fungible the other is non-fungible. But nobody does anything with it [NFTs]. With fan tokens every single week people are going to stadiums and voting.”

Although NFTs might have less trading volume currently, at the peak of the bull market, they became the next big thing in the digital assets sector as celebrities and big brands embraced the idea of unique digital assets that are verified using blockchain. At the time, the idea of having distinct and irreplaceable assets gained prominence within various communities, including digital art, music, videos and gambling.

Meanwhile, fan tokens are digital assets that represent membership to a community such as a sports team’s fan base. Token holders of specific teams can express their support while receiving specific perks, including game tickets and some participation in a sports club’s decision-making.

‘Biggest sports broker in the world’

Dreyfus founded Chiliz with the vision to recognize that “95% of sports fans are not in the stadium, the city or the country of the team they’re supporting,” so, we wanted to create something that is “both valuable for the fan and scalable for the team.”

“After signing Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (French football club) as our first team in 2018, we now work with more than 80 sports properties all over the world with 300 employees in nine offices,” Dreyfus said.

Each team that signs up has its own token but the CHZ token acts as a governance token on Ethereum and Dreyfus said that his firm has now created a network of the “biggest sports broker in the world.” It’s given fans the ability to make some decisions, even if they are soft decisions, such as deciding which song will play when a goal is scored as it happened when Cristiano Ronaldo scored thrice for Juventus once.

“This is the perfect example of how something on chain changed something in real life,” Dreyfus said. “Only the token holders could choose the music. And they were not able to do it before. So, soft or not soft, it doesn’t matter.”

In 2021, Socios signed 27 NBA teams and 13 NFL teams but did not launch a token, it also signed several cricket teams in the Indian Premier League. Dreyfus said Socios has regulatory licenses in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Lithuania, and noted that “apart from crypto exchanges, it’s the most regulated” crypto entity in the world.

“We had to go through the same work as an exchange, except that we don’t do bitcoin and Ethereum, we just do fan tokens.”

Turkey (one million users) and Brazil (500,000 users) are its biggest markets.

SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal Is Leaving the Agency

Deputy Director Sanjay Wadhwa will take over for Grewal as acting enforcement chief.

Gurbir Grewal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) director of enforcement, is stepping down and departing the agency, according to a Wednesday press release.

Grewal’s last day will be Oct. 11. Sanjay Wadhwa, Grewal’s deputy director of enforcement, will step in as acting director of the SEC’s enforcement division after Grewal’s departure. Sam Waldon, who is currently the chief counsel for the enforcement division, will be named acting deputy director.

“We have been incredibly fortunate that such an accomplished public servant, Gurbir Grewal, came to the SEC to lead the Division of Enforcement for the last three years,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a press statement. “Every day, he has thought about how to best protect investors and help ensure market participants comply with our time-tested securities laws. He has led a Division that has acted without fear or favor, following the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

Under Grewal’s three-year tenure as enforcement director, the SEC authorized more than 2,400 enforcement matters, leading to over $20 billion in disgorgement and civil penalties, and handed out over $1 billion in awards to whistleblowers, according to the press release.

In their announcement of Grewal’s departure, the agency lauded his crypto-related enforcement track record in particular, writing:

“Under Mr. Grewal’s leadership, the Division recommended and the Commission authorized more than 100 enforcement actions addressing widespread noncompliance in the quickly growing crypto space, including against the operators of the largest crypto asset trading platforms in the world and the operator of the largest crypto asset trading platform in the United States for depriving investors of crucial investor protections by not complying with the registration provisions of the federal securities laws.”

The SEC has announced a number of enforcement actions and settlements in the crypto space over the past few weeks, ahead of the end of the fiscal year, including eToro, Mango Markets and Galois Capital.

Bitcoin Bounce Above $62K Quickly Fades; Ether, XRP, ADA, LINK Lose as Torrid October Continues

The largest cryptocurrency’s price is currently retesting its “Bull Market Support Band” trend indicator, where prices often rebounded from pullbacks during uptrends.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) modest rebound from the geopolitical turmoil-induced sell-off was arrested at $62,400 during the Wednesday U.S. session, tumbling back below $61,000 in the later hours.

BTC recently changed hands at $61,100, down 1.5% over the past 24 hours, while the broad crypto market benchmark CoinDesk 20 index was 2% lower during the same period. Altcoins fared worse, with ether (ETH), Ripple’s XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Near (NEAR) declining 3%-5% during the day.

U.S. stock indexes remained mostly flat after yesterday’s losses on rising conflict between Israel and Iran. Gold pared some of its gains while oil retraced to $70 from its intraday top at $72, perhaps a sign of easing investor concerns over further military escalation.

The Japanese yen tumbled 1.8% against the U.S. dollar on incoming prime minister Shigeru Ishiba ruling out further interest rate hikes in the near term, saying that the country’s economy isn’t ready yet for more restrictive monetary policy. Keeping central bank policy loose would support risk assets, as the Bank of Japan’s surprise rate hike in August triggered a broad-scale market crash as traders were forced to unwound their positions funded by cheap yen-based loans.

Bitcoin’s key test

Crypto’s dismal start of October, which was widely expected to be a bullish month, has left crypto traders worried about further downside as the euphoria from bitcoin’s swift run to $66,000 from $52,000 last month quickly faded.

Whether prices rebound or tumble lower may depend on bitcoin’s ongoing retest of its “Bull Market Support Band,” a key trend indicator defined by the asset’s 20-week simple moving average (SMA) and a 21-week exponential moving average (EMA). The band often served as support for prices during previous uptrends, and currently ranges between $61,100 and $62,900. A bounce from the band would reinvigorate the uptrend from the September lows to target, but a decisive break below could undo all the recovery, with many more weeks chopping below $60,000.

Analysts at crypto hedge fund QCP said that bitcoin could tumble to as low as $55,000 if the Middle East conflict escalates further and investors move risk-off, but the $60,000 level acted as solid support so far.

“Middle East geopolitics will steal the limelight for now, but the shallow sell-off suggests that the market remains well bid for risk assets,” QCP said in a Tuesday update.

“This minor setback shouldn’t distract from the bigger picture,” QCP analysts added. “Asset prices are expected to remain supported heading into 2025, as both the largest (the Federal Reserve) and third-largest (People’s Bank of China) central banks in the world have started their cutting cycles in earnest.”

Blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant noted signs of BTC demand recovering from the summer slump, driven by U.S.-listed spot ETFs.

If demand picks up and favorable year-end seasonality materializes, BTC could target the $85,000-$100,000 range in the last quarter, according to CryptoQuant.

“These levels align with the upper range of the on-chain trader realized price bands, where short-term traders often take profits following price rallies,” CryptoQuant analysts said.

SEC Files Notice of Appeal in Case Against Ripple

A federal judge ruled last year that the SEC had not made its case that Ripple violated securities law by selling XRP to retail customers through exchanges.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it would appeal a federal judge’s ruling in its case against Ripple on Wednesday.

The federal regulator filed a “notice of appeal” to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, just under two months after Judge Analisa Torres imposed her final judgement in the regulator’s now four-year-old-case against the crypto company.

In July 2023, the judge ruled that while Ripple violated federal securities law through its institutional sales of XRP, its programmatic sales to retail exchanges did not violate securities rules. The SEC attempted to file an interlocutory appeal against the motion for summary judgement, but was denied by the judge.

This past August, Judge Torres imposed a $125 million fine against Ripple, well below the nearly $2 billion the SEC requested in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.

In a statement, an SEC spokesperson said, “We believe that the district court decision in the Ripple matter conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities laws and look forward to making our case to the Second Circuit.”

Ripple did not immediately return a request for comment.

Earlier Wednesday, Bitwise filed an application to list and trade shares of an exchange-traded fund that would invest in XRP.

Protocol Village: Polyhedra’s ZK Prover Tops Speed Rankings in First Results From ‘Proof Arena’

The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Oct. 3-9.

Thursday, Oct. 3

Polyhedra’s ZK Prover, Expander, Tops Speed Rankings in First Results From ‘Proof Arena’

Polyhedra Network, a blockchain project specializing in zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, released the first set of data from its new Proof Arena, a benchmarking platform designed to evaluate and compare different ZK provers. According to the team, “The data includes comparisons of provers from Polyhedra, Polygon, Linea and StarkWare – Expander, Plonky3, GNARK, Halo2 respectively. Results: the Expander prover is significantly faster in terms of proof generation time and peak memory; Plonky3 achieves stellar performance in terms of setup and verification time, and GNARK has the smallest proof size.” [EDITOR’S NOTE: Please see our exclusive feature story on Proof Arena, published in July.)

Sui Claims First Among L1 Chains to Run Scion Architecture, Enhancing Defense Against Internet Routing Attacks

Sui, a blockchain built around the Move smart-contracts programming language, has become the first layer-1 project to drop the outdated Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and is now running Scion’s cutting-edge network architecture. According to the team: “The upgrade provides validators with a comprehensive defense against internet routing attacks that have caused significant downtime on other networks, making Sui even more secure. Implementing Scion enables fallback between networks, giving Sui resilience to network hijacking and DDoS attacks. Validators maintain consensus during attacks, improving epoch rewards. Full nodes benefit from better state sync, avoiding bottlenecks and retry delays.” (SUI)

Polish Bank Pekao Partners With Aleph Zero to Launch ‘Archiv3,’ for Tokenizing Works by Nation’s Artists

Poland’s second-largest bank, Bank Pekao S.A., has partnered with Aleph Zero to launch Archiv3, “a project to tokenize and preserve renowned Polish artworks,” according to the team: “Using Aleph Zero’s eco-friendly blockchain, digital reproductions of masterpieces by artists like Jan Matejko and Stanisław Wyspiański have been minted as NFTs and stored in the Arctic World Archive for long-term preservation. This marks the first use of blockchain to safeguard historical art in the AWA, combining technological innovation with cultural preservation.”

Digital-Asset Platform Taurus Collaborating With Chainlink Labs to Accelerate Tokenized Asset Adoption

Taurus, a digital asset-platform to custody, issue and manage cryptocurrencies, and Chainlink Labs, a blockchain oracle developer, announced a collaboration to accelerate tokenized asset adoption by financial institutions. According to the team: “Taurus will use Chainlink to enrich tokenized assets with offchain data and enable cross-chain interoperability. This includes integrating Chainlink Data Feeds, Proof of Reserve and CCIP. The collaboration aims to accelerate time-to-market for tokenized assets, increase liquidity and enhance cross-chain security.”

VC Firm Key Difference Labs Partners With Ethereum L2 List to Launch ‘Pioneer’ Incubator Program

Key Difference Labs, a venture capital firm, is partnering with Lisk, an Ethereum layer-2 project, to launch the Lisk Pioneer Program, an incubator program for projects looking to build on the Lisk blockchain. According to the team: “Benefits Include Funding: $100,000 per project (total of 20 projects); Mentorship: Guidance from industry leaders with a proven track record; and Exposure: Access to events, marketing support, and networking opportunities. This program is a four-month go-to-market process. Startups will receive expert guidance on tokenomics, raising capital, partnerships, community growth, and assistance with exchange listings.”

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here.