Coin overview
EIGEN
Ended--
Last price (USDT)
171.76K
24h total (USDT)
739.77K
Total vol (USDT)
2024-04-30 09:00:00 ~ 2024-10-01 03:30:00
Trading time (UTC+0)
2024-10-01 09:00:00
Delivery time (UTC+0)
Total supply1.71B
Resources
Introduction
EigenLayer is a protocol built on Ethereum that introduces re-staking, allowing users who have staked $ETH to join the EigenLayer smart contract to re-stake their $ETH and extend cryptoeconomic security to other applications on the network. As a platform, EigenLayer, on one hand, raises assets from LSD asset holders, and on the other hand, uses the raised LSD assets as collateral to provide middleware, side chains, and rollups with AVS (Active Verification Service) needs. The convenient and low-cost AVS service itself provides demand matching services between LSD providers and AVS demanders, while a specialized pledge service provider is responsible for specific pledge security services. EIGEN total supply: 1.67 billion tokens
EigenLayer announces that the penalty mechanism is now live on the mainnet
Ethereum re-staking protocol EigenLayer announced that its slashing mechanism has been launched on the mainnet, and the protocol committee has completed the upgrade implementation.
EigenLayer Announces Ethereum Restaking Penalty Mechanism to Launch on Mainnet Today
According to an official tweet, the Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer has announced that its penalty mechanism (Slashing) will go live on the mainnet today (April 17, 2025).
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Ventures Fund on track to raise $180m for crypto startups
Billionaire Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Ventures Fund I LP is on track to raise up to $180 million by June to back early-stage crypto and blockchain startups, with a focus on payments and stablecoins. According to unnamed sources cited in an April 17 Bloomberg report , the fund has already surpassed its initial $150 million target and is expected to close with between $175 million and $180 million. The final close is scheduled for the end of June. Galaxy has not made the figures public, and a spokesperson declined to comment. Galaxy Ventures Fund I invests in early-stage companies building infrastructure and financial tools for the crypto economy. Its current portfolio includes synthetic dollar issuer Ethena, stablecoin-focused DeFi protocol M^Zero, layer-1 blockchain Monad, asset tokenisation chain Plume, and Renzo, which supports Ethereum restaking via EigenLayer. The fund had its first close in June 2024, when Galaxy Asset Management announced it had raised $113 million . At the time, the firm said the venture fund would target startups building crypto protocols, software, and financialized applications. “This fund will strengthen our commitment to fostering innovation in the digital asset space,” Galaxy’s global head of asset management, Steve Kurz, said in a July press release, “enabling us to back visionary startups and gain unparalleled insights into the emerging technologies that will shape both our company and the future of finance.” Led by general partners Will Nuelle and Mike Giampapa, the fund aims to build a portfolio of around 30 investments focused on helping institutions and startups participate in the onchain economy. Galaxy’s venture operations were previously moved under its asset management division before the launch of this fund. Its strong fundraising progress comes despite broader headwinds in the sector, where crypto VC activity has been slow to recover. In Q1 2025, U.S. crypto venture deals fell 22% year-on-year to roughly $1.3 billion, according to Pitchbook. Much of the capital has shifted to artificial intelligence, which absorbed 58% of global VC dollars during the same period. A February report from the analytics firm highlighted just how cautious the market has become. Despite Bitcoin hitting $100,000 in late 2024, median crypto VC deal sizes had dropped nearly 90% since 2018. At the time, PitchBook’s Robert Le said the days of raising capital with just a white paper were long gone, with today’s founders needing “a significant amount of traction or something else other than a technical white paper.” Nevertheless, Le hoped for a rebound in 2025 and projected over $18 billion in venture capital to flow into crypto.
Soneium Sony Chain collaborates with EigenLayer and AltLayer to build a fast confirmation layer for Soneium
According to official news, Soneium Sony Chain is collaborating with EigenLayer and AltLayer to build a fast confirmation layer for Soneium. This confirmation layer only accepts ASTR and restaked ETH as pledged assets. This collaboration signifies that ASTR maintains the infrastructure security of Soneium as a pledged asset. It is reported that ASTR is not only the core asset of the Sony ecosystem but also its core pledge token, and it was the basic token of the ecosystem before Soneium issued its currency.
Deep Dive | April 16th
The end of Q1 is a time to reflect on progress, with Swellchain now hosting hundreds of ecosystem integrations including dApps, infrastructure, and analytics platforms—all of which will soon be accessible via a new Swellchain website. In the last two weeks, our hackathon event—the Swell City Buildathon—has begun, and we’ve introduced new functionality to the chain including one click leveraged restaking on Euler. Read on for more information about this and other highlights in your latest Deep Dive. 🌊⛓️ Swellchain Updates Swell City Buildathon The Swell City Buildathon is underway with TAIKAI. Swellchain’s first hackathon is giving builders a chance to compete for $40k in prizes by building next-gen AVS infra, automated trading strategies, or DeFAI tools, across a number of tracks on Swellchain. Register for the Swell City Buildathon OpenOcean is live on Swellchain Access seamless swaps and API onchain, and get the best price for your assets by tapping into liquidity across the ecosystem. Swap assets on OpenOcean Stargate USD₮0 is on Swellchain USD₮0 is a single, unified, Tether-backed stablecoin for the Superchain powered by LayerZero -- which will be later upgraded to Native USD₮0. Seamlessly move USD₮0 across the Superchain ecosystem today via Stargate. 💻 Coming soon: Swellchain website The new Swellchain site will be your one-stop hub for everything Swellchain — from dApps and infrastructure to powerful analytics. But that's not all… it will also give you a glimpse of something we've been quietly building behind the scenes: a brand-new restaking research tool that will give you access to real-time data, breaking news, and deep analytics from across the restaking ecosystem 👀 🕵️ Operation Octuple You can now octuple your rewards on Euler! Euler’s Multiply is live on Swellchain, enabling one-click leveraged restaking. Earn 8x $SWELL for borrowing ETH against rswETH and weETH over the next two weeks. Multiply on Euler 💰 Bonus EIGEN Claims Bonus $EIGEN from the Swell L2 Pre-Launch deposits is now claimable. These tokens represent your share of 1M EigenLayer Points if you deposited in the L2 Pre-Launch during the first 4 weeks, and held until Swellchain’s launch on December 19th, 2024. Claim your EIGEN rewards 💻 Swell x Obol Partnership Swell is partnering with Obol to include Obol Distributor Validators, and opting into the Obol Incentive program to bolster restaking rewards. Integrating with Obol enables Swell to increase the efficiency of liquid restaking, whilst boosting decentralization as we continue to gradually reduce centralization vectors across our node operator set. Learn more about Swell x Obol partnership 🌊 Swell Vaults on vaults.fyi Swell Vaults are now live on vaults.fyi – including integrated strategies powered by Euler. This opens up more opportunities for DeFi users to earn yield, as well as stack rewards from Swell, Tempest, and other ecosystem partners. Explore and allocate to vaults on Swellchain 🎙️ Events Velodrome and King come to Swellchain | Space We were joined by Tao from Velodrome and Joe from King Protocol, to dive into some of the opportunities that are available for KING users on Velodrome. Read the recap Listen to the recording Stargate USDT0 on the Superchain | Stargate Space Kilian joined the teams from Optimism, Soneium, and Mode to discuss what USDT0 is, how it works and the value it brings to the chain. Listen to the recording AVS roundtable summit Catch Kilian and Fabian in Dubai later this month for at the Staking Summit and Token2049. We'll be meeting up with top AVS and hosting an AVS roundtable event for deep discussion on the future of restaking. please enquire in Discord if you wish to attend. 💧 Liquidity Mellow Automatic Management Mellow’s Automatic Management (ALM) toolkit it now live on Swellchain, supporting concentrated Velodrome liquidity pools including rswETH/ETH Learn how to use Mellow ALM for Swellchain pools 📣 Top Tweets Learn how Radius plays into Swellchain’s vision of Proof of Restake Proof of Restake isn't just another scaling solution—it's @swellnetworkio 's thesis to building the most decentralized, trustless L2 that truly aligns with Ethereum's core values In this thread we go into how @radius_xyz is solving the "trusted sequencer problem" that plagues L2s… — ABI | Swell (@AbishekFi) March 27, 2025 Dive into trading insights on Swellchain DEX’s in this thread by The Degen Scope The @swellnetworkio is a chain built especially for earning - Staking, Liquid restaking, providing liquidity, or simply being rewarded for using Swellchain. But how does it fair in other aspects, like trading on DEXs. This is a dive into Trading Insights on SwellChain DEXs. 🧵 https://t.co/41lZI6UAIT pic.twitter.com/y1kdYdYEHD — The Degen Scope 🔭 (@Degen_Scope) April 10, 2025 Join the Swell Community Expect to receive your next edition of the Swell Deep Dive in three weeks. Until then, stay up to date by joining us in Discord and following us on Farcaster , Twitter and DeBank .
Celestia Unveils mamo-1 Testnet with 128MB Blocks for Enhanced Scalability
Modular blockchain Celestia has launched its new testnet, mamo-1, aimed at enhancing scalability ahead of future mainnet upgrades. The testnet can handle up to 128MB blocks every six seconds, which is over 16 times the capacity of the current mainnet. It is designed to simulate real-world conditions for applications that need to process large volumes of data. Building on the previous smaller prototype called Mammoth Mini, which achieved a throughput of 27MB/s during lab testing, mamo-1 takes it further. Unlike its predecessor, mamo-1 is open to the public and integrates with Celestia’s complete data availability layer, offering support for light nodes and data availability sampling. To ensure a realistic network experience, the testnet is backed by 21 validators based in Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw, reflecting the dynamics of real-world usage. This upgrade is partially driven by introducing a new data transfer protocol called Vacuum!, which optimizes data movement across the network. Instead of overwhelming the network with excessive data, nodes only transmit it to peers who specifically request it. This approach significantly minimizes unnecessary traffic, enhancing the system’s speed and efficiency. Celestia views this new technology as a crucial step toward achieving its goal of handling 1GB blocks. Since launching its mainnet in October 2023, over 20 rollups, including Eclipse, Movement Labs, and Dymension, have already deployed on the network. Nevertheless, competition from rival data availability networks such as EigenDA and Avail could challenge Celestia’s lead in the space. In a broader context, Ethereum is also making strides in scalability with the upcoming launch of a new testnet called Hoodi on March 17. This testnet aims to finalize testing for Ethereum’s Prague-Electra (Pectra) upgrade. According to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko, if the testing on Hoodi proves successful, the Pectra mainnet deployment could follow within 30+ days, potentially in late April. If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , and CoinMarketCap Community . “Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
EigenLayer will launch the penalty mechanism on the mainnet on April 17
According to ChainCatcher, the official news states that Ethereum's re-staking protocol EigenLayer will launch its slashing mechanism on April 17 on the mainnet. Active Verification Services (AVS) will be able to build verifiable, trustless applications; at the same time, operators and stakers need to take responsibility. Slashing is a way for PoS protocols to economically penalize a node or group of nodes for executing strategies that can be proven to differ from the given protocol specifications.
Celestia launches its high-speed mamo-1 testnet with 128MB blocks
Modular blockchain Celestia has launched a new testnet, mamo-1, designed to push the network’s scalability to new extremes ahead of future mainnet upgrades. According to an Apr. 14 announcement on Celestia’s ( TIA ) blog, mamo-1 is designed to support very high data throughput, up to 128MB blocks every six seconds, or 21.33MB per second. That’s more than 16 times higher than what Celestia’s mainnet currently handles. The new testnet is meant to simulate real-world conditions for apps that need to process large amounts of data. The testnet follows a smaller prototype called Mammoth Mini, which reached 27MB/s in lab tests. But unlike that devnet, mamo-1 is open to the public and connects with Celestia’s full data availability layer, including support for light nodes and data availability sampling. It is supported by 21 validators located in Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw to reflect realistic network behavior. The upgrade is powered in part by a new data transfer protocol called Vacuum!, which improves how data moves across the network. Instead of flooding the network with data, nodes only send it to peers who request it. This helps reduce unnecessary traffic and makes the system faster and more efficient. Vacuum! also uses something called Validator Availability Certificates, so nodes can announce which data they’re holding. Even if full data isn’t available from a single source, Vacuum! features a new recovery method that helps validators rebuild missing parts of a block using backup data. Celestia says this technology brings them closer to a future where the network can handle 1GB blocks. Since its October 2023 mainnet launch , more than 20 rollups have deployed on Celestia, including Eclipse, Movement Labs ( MOVE ), and Dymension. Still, competition from rival data availability networks like EigenDA and Avail could challenge its lead. Even with the new testnet, Celestia’s token TIA hasn’t moved much. It’s trading at $2.52, down 30% this month and 88% below its $20.85 all-time high in February. According to an Apr. 10 Nansen report , developer interest in the platform remains quite high despite the price drop, raising conviction of future price recovery.
Babylon Genesis launches as first-ever layer-1 secured by Bitcoin
Babylon Labs has officially launched Babylon Genesis, the first-ever Layer-1 blockchain secured by Bitcoin. Babylon Labs (BABY) just announced that Babylon Genesis Layer-1. This launch follows the initial Phase 1 rollout in August 2024, which introduced Bitcoin ( BTC ) staking through self-custodial contracts. Since the initial launch, the protocol has attracted 49678.65 BTC ($4.06B) staked in self-custodial contracts. According to DefiLlama , Babylon currently ranks second in Total Value Locked among restaking protocols, after EigenLayer . Source: DefiLlama With today’s launch, the project enters Phase 2. This stage includes the full release of the Genesis blockchain, the activation of core infrastructure such as validator nodes and finality providers, and the debut of the BABY token, which is now available for transfers and staking . Eligible users will receive airdropped BABY tokens directly to their wallets, and both transferring and staking the token are supported from day one. The final phase, Phase 3, will introduce additional Bitcoin-Secured Networks, enabling other blockchains to access BTC staking security and liquidity via Babylon Genesis Layer-1. Babylon offers a unique way to stake Bitcoin in that it allows users to lock their BTC in self-custodial contracts while maintaining ownership. Unlike traditional staking, where assets are handed over to a smart contract or custodian, Babylon’s method ensures full control remains with the user. If a participant, like a validator or finality provider, acts dishonestly, their staked BTC can be “slashed” (partially penalized), similar to Proof-of-Stake blockchains. “Bitcoin OGs really care about custodying [their] own keys, having control over [their] own financial decisions,” said Spencer Yang, co-founder of Fractal Bitcoin, in an interview . The blockchain is secured by validators staking BABY token and finality providers staking BTC for extra security. Looking ahead, one major feature to look out for is a trust-minimized bridge between Bitcoin and Genesis, called BitVM2. This will enable BTC to flow into the Babylon ecosystem without relying on multisig setups, using slashing and cryptographic techniques to enforce trustless behavior.
The Trump Family Project WLFI Sells Off ETH at a Loss of Millions, How Many Chips Does It Still Hold?
Original Article Title: "The Behind-the-Scenes of WLFI's ETH Dump: Stop Loss or Another Scheme?" Original Article Author: Luke, Mars Finance On April 9, 2025, a wallet allegedly linked to World Liberty Financial (WLFI) dumped 5,471 ETH at an average price of $1,465, cashing out approximately $8.01 million. This was no small matter—this wallet had previously splurged $210 million to accumulate 67,498 ETH at an average price of $3,259, now facing an unrealized loss of $125 million. As a DeFi star project endorsed by the Trump family, WLFI's move is puzzling: why liquidate at this critical moment? How much more ETH can be sold? Will there be more dumps in the future? A Tough Decision in the Chilling Market Currently, the crypto market seems to be shrouded in cold air, with ETH price fluctuating between $1,465 and $1,503, more than halving from WLFI's purchase price. Looking back to the beginning of 2025, the optimism brought by Trump's inauguration had prompted WLFI to significantly increase its ETH holdings, seemingly attempting to soar with the policy tailwind. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and the continued slump of ETH turned this enthusiasm into a massive $125 million unrealized loss. From $89 million in March to $125 million now, the snowball of losses keeps growing. The timing of the sell-off is intriguing. On the same day, a whale scooped up 4,677 ETH at $1,481, intensifying the market's long vs. short game. WLFI's decision to act at this moment may indicate a sense of a short-term bottom or a fear of further price decline. Regardless, this $8.01 million cash-out is like selling an old coat in the winter—it's reluctant but inevitable. Why Sell: Stop Loss or Another Plan? Why did WLFI cut losses at this point? The answer may not be simple. Firstly, the logic of stop-loss is obvious. With each ETH dropping by $1,794, selling 5,471 ETH may incur a near-million-dollar loss, but it's better than watching the remaining 62,027 ETH continue to depreciate. It's like cutting off a "deadbeat stock" in the stock market, securing cash first. After all, if fully liquidated at the current price, the loss would almost hit $111 million—who can bear that? Furthermore, the pressure on cash flow cannot be ignored. WLFI basked in the glory of a $590 million token sale for a while, but expenses for operations, partnerships, and new projects will not stop. While $8.01 million may not be a lot, it can provide relief in a market downturn. Just think, a project backed by the Trump family surely cannot let its wallet run dry, right? Moreover, this may be an attempt at a strategic pivot. WLFI's asset pool contains not only ETH but also "veterans" like WBTC, TRX, and "rising stars" in the RWA space. By reducing ETH holdings, freeing up funds to invest in partners like Ondo Finance or betting on the potential of Layer 2 could be a way to prepare for the future. After all, the stage of DeFi is large, and ETH is just one of the players. Lastly, don't forget about external perception. As the "favorite son" of the Trump family, WLFI shines with prestige but also carries controversy. With 75% of profits in the whitepaper going to the family while risks are shifted to token holders, this model has long raised suspicions. Could this sell-off be due to investor pressure to prove that they are not solely relying on the "celebrity effect" to thrive? It's unlikely, but not entirely unreasonable. Overall, stop-losses and liquidity are the most immediate driving forces, while strategic adjustments may hint at what's to come. As for external pressures, perhaps they are just the background music of this drama. How Much More Can Be Sold: Trump Card and Bottom Line After selling 5,471 tokens, WLFI still holds 62,027 ETH, which is worth approximately $90.9 million at the current price. How much more can this trump card reveal? From a funding perspective, if each sale targets around $8 million in cash flow, selling another approximately 5,000 tokens would suffice, leaving a "safety net" of $56 million in holdings. However, if there is a larger funding gap, such as for a new project launch or debt maturity, selling a few tens of thousands of tokens is not out of the question. However, doing this would undoubtedly raise doubts about ETH's core position. The market's ability to handle this is also crucial. The recent $8.01 million sale did not cause much of a stir, and the daily trading volume of ETH at $5 billion seems able to absorb it. But if WLFI were to dump tens of millions of dollars' worth of assets in one go, panic could further drive down prices. For precaution, selling in small batches appears to be their style. Much more crucial is the strategic bottom line. WLFI views ETH as a "strategic reserve," and if holdings drop below half (around 33.74 million tokens), its image as a DeFi leader may be at risk. Unless absolutely necessary, they are unlikely to easily deplete this reserve. In the short term, selling another 5,000 to 10,000 tokens (approximately $7.3 million to $14.65 million) is a reasonable estimate, both quenching thirst and avoiding harm. Will the Sell-off Continue? In the future, will WLFI continue to sell off? The answer lies within three key clues. First, watch the market sentiment. If ETH drops below $1,400 and the unrealized losses increase by another one or two hundred million, the urge to sell off may be unstoppable. However, if the price rebounds to $1,800, and unrealized losses shrink to $90 million, they might hold onto their assets tightly, even regaining confidence to buy back. Currently, the $1,450 support level and $1,600 resistance level serve as indicators. Second, internal calculations are also crucial. If WLFI still aims to play a leading role in the DeFi space, they cannot afford to see ETH's position heavily impacted. In this case, the sell-off may gradually slow down. However, if they set their sights on other trends, such as RWA or emerging tokens, ETH may become a "cash machine," accelerating the sell-off pace. Third, external factors matter. The pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration acts as a shield for WLFI. If a significant move is made in the second quarter leading to market recovery, they might sit comfortably on the sidelines. Yet, if the family is caught up in political turmoil or investors demand transparency, the pressure to cash out will be inevitable. In the short term (one to two months), there is a possibility of small-scale sell-offs, with the total amount ranging from $10 to $20 million. If the market continues to slump, a mid-term sell-off could account for 30% to 50% of the remaining holdings, totaling $27 to $45 million. Looking ahead, unless ETH stages a complete turnaround, WLFI may gradually fade from this field, moving their chips to a new battleground. Ethereum Fundamental Transition: Why Are Whales Turning Bearish? In recent years, Ethereum's fundamentals seem to be undergoing a quiet transition, which may be a crucial reason why whales are becoming pessimistic about ETH's future. Glassnode data shows that over the past four years, Ethereum's active address count has remained almost stagnant, hovering around the same level, failing to significantly grow alongside market trends. This is not the "efficiency range" of technical optimization but rather resembles a depletion of growth momentum, indicating Ethereum's fatigue in attracting new users and developers. Meanwhile, the emergence of Layer 2 (L2) solutions was supposed to bring new vitality to Ethereum but unexpectedly weakened its value capture ability. L2 significantly reduced mainnet Gas fees by diverting transaction volume (Gas fees dropped over 70% in March 2025). While this is user-friendly, it allows L2 to intercept the value that was supposed to be fed back to ETH holders through the EIP-1559 burning mechanism, further squeezing Ethereum's "profit space." Some analyses suggest that unless the mainnet can revitalize its demand for block space through large-scale tokenization, Ethereum's long-term competitiveness may be at risk. The perspective of institutions also reflects this concern. In a report, CoinShares pointed out that the frequent adjustments to the Ethereum protocol (such as the Dencun hard fork) have brought about uncertainty, hindering institutional investors from building reliable valuation models, thereby diminishing its attractiveness. In March 2025, Standard Chartered lowered its price target for Ethereum in 2025 to $4,000, citing structural decay as the reason. Jon Charbonneau, Co-Founder of the crypto investment firm DBA, also stated that Ethereum's issuance model under the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism faces fundamental trade-off issues, with adjustment being difficult to resolve the core contradiction. On the X platform, some users even bluntly said that Ethereum has "barely changed since 2016," with upgrades being slow and missing the window for rapid transformation, seemingly becoming a "victim" of its own success. Meanwhile, EigenLayer's Stakedrop event also left the market disappointed, as the narrative of enhancing ETH holding rewards through Restaking was shattered due to unfair distribution, further undermining the confidence of large holders. These signals collectively point to a reality: Ethereum's fundamentals are being eroded by internal and external factors, with its once growth engine now showing signs of fatigue, and the pessimism of large holders may indeed be a direct response to this trend. Summary This sell-off event not only revealed WLFI's struggle in the market downturn but also highlighted Ethereum's deeper predicament. The stagnant growth of active addresses, L2 value diversion, signals of institutional pessimism, all contribute to casting a shadow over Ethereum's fundamentals, with the confidence of large holders wavering. WLFI's next move, whether to continue selling or strategically pivot, will unfold in the dual game of markets and policies. For investors, while chasing the hype may be enticing, a more composed judgment is needed: Can Ethereum's future be revitalized? Where will WLFI's bold gamble lead? The answer, perhaps, can only be revealed with time. Original Article Link
Franklin Templeton backs $8m round for stablecoin project Cap
Franklin Templeton, a global asset manager with a growing presence in the crypto and blockchain investment market, has backed an $8 million seed round for Cap. The asset manager led the investment round, with Ethereum ( ETH ) based stablecoin project Cap also attracting the participation of multiple leading web3-focused venture capital firms. In details shared via X, Cap said the investment is a crucial step in its mission to offer a decentralized solution to the problem of yield generation in decentralized finance . This milestone involves the deployment of its protocol across “shared security markets” such as EigenLayer and Symbiotic. “Cap is pioneering a first of its kind implementation of shared security markets like EigenLayer and Symbiotic to regulate the activities of financial operators. This allows traditional finance institutions and crypto-native firms to generate yield for users, while not directly exposing those users to the risks of their activities,” the protocol’s team posted on X. Per the Cap protocol team, the project’s solution is available to users looking to tap into shared security marketplaces. This means users can benefit from staked assets on Ethereum. However, Cap’s main focus is the adoption on MegaETH, the layer 2 offering for real-time interaction with opportunities across the ecosystem. It suggests safe and sustainable yield generation, something that could mean allowing for fresh innovation that beats the current yield-bearing stablecoins. By being able to outsource yield generation through its stablecoin engine, Cap enables traction across a whole lot of blockchain applications, including DeFi protocols,real-world asset protocols, and liquid funds. The $8 million seed round will help the stablecoin startup navigate the next phase of its adoption, with this adding to the $1.1 million raised via crowdfunding project Echo. Cap raised its latest financing round with the support of VC firms such as Triton Capital, Flow Traders, GSR and Japanese firm Nomura Group’s Laser Digital.
Franklin Templeton leads seed round into stablecoin startup looking 'outsource' yield generation for users
Franklin Templeton has led an $8 million seed round into Cap, a blockchain startup looking to launch an interest-bearing stablecoin and accompanying lending market. Other investors include prominent financial institutions Susquehanna and Triton Capital as well as crypto natives including Nomura’s Laser Digital and GSR, among others. The funding round follows a $1.1 million community round on the crowdfunding platform Echo, created by Jordan “Cobie” Fish. Previous angel investors in Cap include prominent members of the so-called “MegaETH Mafia,” venture capitalist Spencer Noon, LayerZero founder Bryan Pellegrino, Blockworks founder Jason Yanowitz and investors associated with platforms like EtherFi, Steakhouse Financial and Meteoria. Cap is deploying its core protocol using the “shared security marketplace” EigenLayer, which allows users to reuse the security generated from staked assets across multiple platforms. The solution ultimately settles on Ethereum, but “will focus its growth and usage” on MegaETH, the nascent Ethereum Layer 2 designed as an alternative to the “rollup centric” universe. According to a blog post, Cap’s stablecoin protocol “outsources” yield generation to provide “market-set rates” by tapping into the “restaking market” as well as the returns generated by “operators” of “all different shapes and sizes” including HFT firms, private equity shops, RWA protocols, DeFi protocols, and liquid funds. Minters deposit USDC or USDT to create cUSD, which can then be staked for yield or used as a dollar-pegged asset. Operators, including TradFi institutions and DeFi natives, borrow this capital to execute yield-generating strategies while restakers provide security by delegating locked ETH, earning premiums in return. In other words, Cap will enable institutions like Franklin Templeton to borrow stablecoins from users by providing them interest. The protocol will take a 10% fee on the yield users earn, which will fluctuate with market conditions. Additionally, Cao will require borrowers to take out “loan insurance” to ensure that stablecoin lenders are fully repaid in the event of a default. “Novel opportunities do not come without risk, which is why it is important to understand the risks inherent to CAP,” the team wrote, noting CAP and its users may be exposed to restaking platform risk, potential stablecoin depegs, third-party bridge risks (if moving cUSD off Ethereum) and smart contract risks given that it “does not rely on custodians, regulations, or other human systems to protect users.” Interest-generating stablecoins and dollar-pegged money market funds are a fast-growing sector of the “real-world asset” sector, including the billion-dollar BUIDL fund from BlackRock. U.S. lawmakers, currently pushing forward on stablecoin rules, appear to disfavor yield-bearing assets and may look to block them in the country via legislation.
How does MegaETH unlock Web2 performance to achieve millisecond-level response times?
Original Article Title: Web2 Performance Parity Unlocked: The MegaETH Approach Original Article Author: @deelabsxyz, web3 Research Institution Original Article Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats Editor's Note: This article introduces the scalability of the MegaETH ecosystem and its future potential. It highlights MegaETH's ultra-high performance, promising 100,000 TPS and low latency to accommodate DeFi, gaming, and other high-demand applications. The article also discusses the comparison with Visa and high-frequency trading, analyzing the challenges and opportunities of blockchain's future needs. Through its unique architecture and mainnet plan, MegaETH could be a breakthrough in blockchain scalability, especially in addressing existing performance bottlenecks. The following is the original content (slightly reorganized for better readability): Introduction If you've ever played online games like "Call of Duty," you know that millisecond-level latency can determine victory or defeat. Imagine being the last survivor on your team, with only one enemy left on the other side. Adrenaline rushing, you aim for a headshot at a crucial moment, but in an instant, the situation reverses — you are defeated by the opponent. This is not a matter of luck but because the opponent's network latency is lower than yours. Now, in a different scenario, suppose you are a high-frequency trader, with the system analyzing market data in real-time. Suddenly, a tech giant announces better-than-expected quarterly earnings, and the stock price surges rapidly. Your algorithm instantly captures the trend, and in less than a second, the price has risen by 2%. You quickly close your position to lock in profits. What do these two examples have in common? They both belong to Web2's real-time applications, whether in gaming or trading, requiring millisecond-level response times. Web2 achieves high-speed data flow through a centralized server architecture, where information runs "synchronously" between devices and servers with almost no latency. So, can blockchain achieve the same level of performance? Decentralized systems have always faced a core bottleneck: slow block times, the need for node consensus, leading to inherent delays and computational overhead. Especially in environments like the Ethereum Virtual Machine, transaction processing efficiency is often limited. These issues significantly impact the user experience of Web3 applications, making it difficult to compete with Web2 in terms of speed and latency — at least until recently. Scalability Bottleneck To address issues such as low throughput and slow transaction processing speed, Layer 2 scaling solutions have emerged. Layer 2 solutions like Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base aim to significantly improve the network's efficiency and scalability by moving a large amount of computation and transaction processing off L1 (Ethereum mainnet). In Layer 2 solutions, transactions submitted by users first enter L2's centralized sequencer. The sequencer is responsible for collecting, ordering, and packaging transactions, then executing the transactions and updating L2's state. Subsequently, L2 submits the compressed transaction data to L1 to ensure security and for final confirmation. Only after L1 validation is completed will the L2 state be updated, and the transactions will be considered finally confirmed. Although Layer 2 solutions have enhanced Ethereum's scalability, there is still a delay in transaction finality. This is because Rollups rely on the security of the Ethereum mainnet and require regular submission of commitments (such as fraud proofs or validity proofs) to maintain trust. These processes mean that transactions must wait for mainnet confirmation to be finally settled, introducing additional latency. Take Optimistic Rollups, for example; they have a challenge period of up to 7 days to resolve transaction accuracy disputes, significantly slowing down the final confirmation speed of transactions. While zk Rollups speed up settlement through validity proofs, this also significantly increases the computational cost. Even centralized Layer 2 solutions cannot completely break away from these security mechanisms tied to L1 without affecting decentralization and security. Furthermore, Layer 2 solutions often operate in isolation, leading to fragmented liquidity and increased complexity in inter-chain interactions. When moving between different Rollups or back to the main chain from L2, cross-chain bridges are required, introducing additional costs, delays, new trust assumptions, and security risks. The end result? The total transaction processing capacity of all Layer 2 solutions is only about 270 transactions per second, far below the performance standards of Web2 and still inadequate to meet the demands of large-scale applications. Solving the Scalability Issue In addition to Layer 2 solutions, Ethereum proposed a new approach to improving the consensus mechanism in September 2023—SSF (Single-Slot Finality). This scheme combines BLS (Boneh-Lynn-Shacham) signatures and Supercommittees to achieve a 75x speedup in final confirmation, reducing transaction confirmation time from the current 15 minutes to a single 12-second slot. To understand the core mechanism of this solution, we can break down its key components. BLS Signature A BLS signature is a cryptographic technique that can aggregate multiple signatures into a single compact signature. Specifically, each validator will sign the block, and then all signatures will be aggregated into one overall signature. The efficiency gains of this mechanism are tremendous: validators do not need to process millions of signatures individually but can instead complete consensus validation in one go. Thanks to this aggregation method, even a validator network of 1 million nodes can complete signature processing within a standard 12-second slot. Supercommittees SSF does not require all validators to vote on each block but instead employs a supercommittee mechanism. In each 12-second slot, a small subset of validators is randomly selected to vote. For example, out of 1 million validators, only around 125,000 may be chosen as supercommittee members for that slot to vote and confirm the current block. This approach significantly reduces network overhead: the amount of data to be transmitted and processed decreases, the voting and signature aggregation process becomes faster and more efficient, and system security and reliability remain unaffected. Through the efficient aggregation of BLS signatures and the voting optimization of supercommittees, SSF has achieved a significant performance improvement, bringing Ethereum closer to the transaction confirmation speed of Web2. While SSF offers a theoretical breakthrough, its architecture is currently too complex to be practically deployed. Ethereum's current computing power and speed are not sufficient to support the implementation of this solution. However, an alternative solution for high-performance blockchains is emerging—MegaETH (@megaeth_labs). MegaETH has adopted a new strategy aimed at breaking through scalability bottlenecks. This article will delve into MegaETH and assess whether it can become a viable solution to address blockchain performance issues. MegaETH: Redefining L2 Design MegaETH has completely disrupted traditional L2 design, built specifically for extreme performance, aiming to achieve sub-10ms block times and over 100,000 TPS, enabling blockchain applications to have speed comparable to centralized systems for the first time. Why Does the Blockchain Ecosystem Still Need New L2 Solutions? The reason is that, despite the numerous innovations brought by existing L2 solutions, such as new lending models, they still lag far behind centralized systems in terms of data processing speed. The technological breakthrough of MegaETH will significantly improve blockchain performance, making it a true alternative to centralized systems and prompting people to rethink the potential of decentralization in more complex application scenarios. Architecture Overview Unlike traditional L2 solutions that rely on a single centralized sequencer to manage transaction sequencing, MegaETH has adopted a set of specialized node architecture to maximize system efficiency. The current MegaETH architecture consists of four core roles: · Sequencers · Provers · Full Nodes · Replica Nodes Sequencers In the MegaETH system, sequencers are core nodes responsible for receiving, sequencing, and processing user transactions. · High-Performance Hardware Support: MegaETH's sequencers run on high-performance servers with multi-core processors and large memory capacity, avoiding the latency caused by traditional L2's reliance on SSDs or other storage devices. · Optimized State Trie: Using efficient memory and I/O design, it can manage data at the TB level even under memory constraints, avoiding additional I/O overhead. Compared to traditional disk storage-based solutions, this design improves state access speed by 1000 times. · Parallel Processing: Leveraging multi-core CPUs, each core can independently perform tasks, supporting parallel processing of EVM transactions and compressing block processing time to less than 10 milliseconds, comparable to the latency level of online multiplayer games. Summary: More CPU cores → Higher parallelism → Faster transaction processing speed. When users send transactions to the MegaETH network, sequencers are responsible for determining transaction execution order and completing processing. After transaction execution, sequencers generate blocks containing transaction data and state changes (i.e., state diffs) and send this information to replica nodes or full nodes for synchronization among different types of users. Full Nodes In MegaETH, Full Nodes play a role similar to traditional blockchains, storing the entire blockchain state and re-executing every transaction provided by the orderer to ensure ledger consistency. Additionally, Full Nodes also utilize zero-knowledge proofs to perform additional block validation. The zk proof, generated by Prover Nodes, ensures transaction correctness, enhancing security and data integrity. Replica Nodes Unlike Full Nodes, Replica Nodes do not store the full blockchain state or re-execute transactions. Instead, they rely entirely on zero-knowledge proofs provided by Prover Nodes. · Replica Nodes receive state delta data from the orderer via a peer-to-peer network and apply it directly to their local state replica to stay in sync with the network. · They indirectly confirm block correctness without processing transactions, significantly reducing computational costs and improving synchronization efficiency. This architecture allows MegaETH to support a more lightweight node deployment, increase decentralization, and maintain network efficiency. Prover Nodes In traditional blockchains, nodes need to store the complete state (e.g., account balances) and validate transactions to ensure correctness. MegaETH employs stateless validation where Prover Nodes do not need to store the full state. Instead, they rely on zk proofs and state delta data provided by the orderer to validate transactions. This significantly reduces storage requirements and improves block confirmation efficiency. EigenDA: Decentralized Data Availability Layer MegaETH uses EigenDA as a decentralized data availability storage layer to ensure all transaction-related data is always available for any node in the network to verify or recover. Data Blobs: MegaETH's orderer compresses transaction history into data blobs, which are further divided into smaller data fragments for easier storage and distribution. Data Distribution: These data fragments are assigned to EigenDA operators, nodes that stake ETH in the EigenLayer to secure the network. These operators are responsible for storing the data and providing data retrieval services when needed. Data Recovery and Verification: Any user or node that needs to validate MegaETH transaction data can obtain the relevant data from EigenDA operators to ensure the integrity of the blockchain. On March 21, 2024, the MegaETH public testnet was officially launched, demonstrating an impressive performance of 20,000 TPS while maintaining a block time of only 10 milliseconds, significantly outperforming existing blockchain systems. This carefully designed multi-layer architecture, combined with EigenDA's data storage capabilities, brings MegaETH closer to its true real-time blockchain performance goals. MegaETH Architecture Workflow In the MegaETH network, the process from the sorter to final transaction confirmation goes through multiple stages, with each component carrying specific responsibilities to ensure the efficient operation of the blockchain. 1. Sorter processes transactions and generates blocks The sorter plays a crucial role in the MegaETH ecosystem, responsible for the following tasks: · Receiving user transactions and determining their order. · Processing transactions, executing EVM computations, and updating the blockchain state. · Creating blocks, which include: State transition data: Changes in state after transaction execution, such as account balance updates. Cryptographic proof: Used to verify the correctness of state transitions. 2. Provers validate blocks Upon receiving a block, provers perform the following steps: · Receive and parse the block, extract transactions, state transition data, and cryptographic proof. · Run cryptographic algorithms to check the proof, validate if transactions comply with MegaETH rules, ensuring: State transition data has not been tampered with. State transition data aligns with transaction logic. The proof itself is cryptographically valid. · Confirm the block: Once a sufficient number of provers complete validation, the block is considered finally confirmed and the confirmation data is broadcasted to the entire network. Key Optimization Points: · Validators do not need to store the full state; they only need to verify the cryptographic proof provided by the sequencer, reducing storage requirements and computational costs. · Validation is faster than recomputation because validators only need to check the cryptographic proof rather than perform all transaction computations. · Blocks can be processed in parallel regardless of the order in which they were created. For example, a validator can first validate the 10th block and then the 5th block, as long as they have the corresponding state transition data and cryptographic proof. 3. Ensure Data Propagation to the Entire Network Once a block is validated by a sufficient number of validators: · Its confirmation data is sent to full nodes and archival nodes within the MegaETH network. · Full nodes store the complete blockchain state and re-execute transactions for final confirmation. · Archival nodes rely on the results from validators, directly applying state transition data to stay synchronized. · The finally confirmed block is formally added to the MegaETH main chain. This architecture allows MegaETH to maintain high performance and decentralization, optimize computational and storage requirements, and provide a fresh perspective on blockchain scalability. Since MegaETH processes transactions outside the main Ethereum network, it must ensure that transaction data is publicly visible to all network participants to ensure data accuracy and uphold the decentralization principle. This is akin to providing proof of operation for the entire ecosystem. In MegaETH, these correctness proofs include block data that meticulously records completed transactions and their impact on the blockchain state. Why Does MegaETH Adopt Two Types of Nodes? Most nodes in the MegaETH network are archival nodes, primarily catering to application developers and infrastructure providers. They are optimized to support frontend applications, reduce hardware requirements, enhance user experience, and enable more people to participate. At the same time, full nodes remain crucial, serving advanced users such as bridge operators and liquidity providers who prefer independently validated data. Compared to archival nodes, full nodes require higher hardware specifications to stay in sync with the sequencer. Product Strategy MegaETH is currently not yet released on the mainnet, so widespread adoption has not been achieved, but it has already attracted community attention and support. Today, MegaETH has become one of the most talked-about projects in the industry. The team has put in tremendous effort and achieved significant success in building trust and visibility. Here are the key strategies behind their success. Attracting Top Investors The team successfully completed a seed funding round, raising $20 million, with investors including Dragonfly, Robot Ventures, Vitalik Buterin, and other well-known institutions and individual investors. MegaETH's association with Vitalik Buterin has made it a technically ambitious project and aligned with Ethereum's long-term vision, naturally attracting the Ethereum community's attention. This has not only enhanced the project's reputation but also laid a solid foundation for its future development. Community-Driven Fundraising Strategy MegaETH conducted a public sale on the Echo platform. Echo is a platform designed specifically to attract angel investments, allowing investors to team up and collectively support early-stage promising crypto projects. Ultimately, MegaETH raised $10 million in less than three minutes, becoming the fastest project to secure funding on Echo since its beta launch. The highlight of this round of funding lies in the composition of participants. MegaETH did not follow the traditional VC approach of seeking high valuation investments from venture capital firms but redesigned the process to give community members an equal opportunity to invest alongside large institutional investors. This strategy proved highly successful, attracting a total of 3200 new investors, with an average investment of $3000 per person. This not only raised funds but also built a broad and highly engaged supporter base. Largest Transaction on the Echo Platform (MegaETH Ranked First) This funding structure combined equity with token options, ensuring participants' long-term interests, similar to MegaLabs' $20 million seed funding round completed in June of this year. The valuations of both rounds of funding exceed $1 billion. This model not only helped MegaETH gain genuine community support, but also enabled the community to be deeply involved in ecosystem development from the beginning, forming a clear and sustainable incentive mechanism to ensure long-term user engagement. Fluffle NFT Series MegaETH further strengthened its community-oriented strategy by launching the Fluffle series NFT—consisting of 10,000 unique soulbound NFTs (non-transferable), each valued at 1 ETH. The uniqueness of this series lies in representing at least 5% of the MegaETH network share, with this proportion set to increase as the project progresses. This mechanism not only promotes long-term engagement but also enhances community loyalty. The first batch of 5,000 NFTs specifically rewards early supporters who contributed to the MegaETH ecosystem, such as driving core protocol development or building the local community. Prior to the official minting launch, 80,000 eligible addresses have been whitelisted. The second batch of 5,000 NFTs will be released in a few months, aiming to incentivize those who continue to enhance the MegaETH ecosystem through social interaction and on-chain contributions, allowing them the same participation opportunities. Mega Mafia Accelerator MegaETH had long realized that mere financial investment does not guarantee community loyalty. Therefore, the team not only provided funding support to developers but also launched the Mega Mafia Accelerator program. This program aims to support projects that can promote blockchain ecosystem development, incentivizing new ideas and technological advancements. Selected teams not only receive resource support but also collaborate closely with the core team and advisors, participating in offline events and industry summits together. Currently, the total funding raised by projects incubated under the Mega Mafia program has exceeded that of MegaETH itself, and the program is actively supporting 15 teams (full list available in official information). In addition, MegaETH is building an ecosystem beyond the accelerator itself. Ecosystem Overview Through a precise and well-thought-out strategy, MegaETH has successfully attracted multiple high-quality projects. Its ecosystem spans various fields, including trading platforms, DeFi solutions, games, entertainment, and more. The ecosystem was launched in early 2023 and continued to expand in 2024. By the end of 2024, with the introduction of the Mega Mafia Builder program, the first batch of projects started to land. Today, the MegaETH ecosystem has gathered more than 45 active teams and is growing steadily. The MegaETH ecosystem is currently mainly composed of projects in the DeFi and entertainment sectors, including gaming and NFT projects. Projects in these sectors involve high-performance applications that require robust bandwidth and low latency, which are precisely MegaETH's strengths. While DeFi remains the most popular sector in the crypto industry, with the most applications and serving as the economic core of various ecosystems, the situation is different for the gaming industry. As a comparison, we can look at the Arbitrum ecosystem. It includes over 1,000 projects and is one of the most well-known and widely used L2 solutions on Ethereum today. In the Arbitrum ecosystem, DeFi projects have become the focus, with approximately 440 projects, while infrastructure projects (including tools) account for about 318 projects, totaling around 72% of the ecosystem. This highlights its cost-effective approach. Entertainment projects, such as games and NFTs, only make up 14%, a lower percentage that also has its rationale. The rise of GameFi began in 2021, but just one year later, the market experienced a significant slump. The main reason for this collapse was the disappointing user experience: the quality of games lagged far behind projects from the Web2 era. Players often complained about poor immersion, sluggish performance, and unresponsive gameplay, and the introduction of L2 solutions failed to reverse the situation. Ecosystem Projects' Uniqueness Due to MegaETH's unique architecture, it provides a foundation for equally unique projects. To better understand this, let's take a deeper look at a few representative projects selected for their widespread recognition and unique architectural design. GTE GTE (@GTE_XYZ) is a decentralized trading platform designed to enhance existing DEXes by combining the characteristics of centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges. GTE focuses on reducing transaction latency, providing fast and efficient trading comparable to CEX, while still adhering to the core principles of decentralized exchanges—user asset control, transparency, and enhanced security. The platform provides a comprehensive solution by integrating the entire trading cycle into one ecosystem—from token creation to supporting spot and margin trading. This allows users to handle all transaction-related tasks without switching between different services. To achieve fast transactions, GTE has chosen MegaETH as its foundation, which not only processes transactions quickly but also significantly reduces gas costs, making trading on GTE more cost-effective than on most other DEXs. Pump Party Pump Party (@pumppartyapp) is a decentralized application aimed at creating an interactive real-time game show experience. Users can participate in live mini-games and compete for token rewards. The platform operates as follows: Users register via email or social media, view the show schedule, and join the live broadcast. During the broadcast, the host conducts games in which users can participate. At the end of the game, the system selects a winner based on the user with the highest score, and the token rewards are automatically added to their account. The project positions itself as a "crypto app for the masses," meaning it is primarily targeted at those unfamiliar with blockchain technology. In a sense, it has the potential to become a blockchain version of "Twitch." Teko Finance Teko (@tekofinance) is a lending protocol that claims to be the first to offer real-time low collateral loans. Its main goal is to overcome the limitations of traditional on-chain lending, such as high collateral requirements and performance bottlenecks, elevating lending services to near traditional financial levels. Users deposit assets into the protocol as collateral, and the protocol assesses the assets' liquidity and volatility through a built-in oracle. Based on the assessment, users receive a loan in the form of tokens, which may have a value lower than the collateral as the protocol includes risk management mechanisms. These tokens can be used within the ecosystem, repaid with interest, with the interest dynamically adjusted based on market conditions. By integrating with MegaETH and utilizing the built-in oracle, Teko dynamically updates asset prices and market conditions in real time. This ensures accurate risk assessment and enables the protocol to adapt to market changes instantly. Therefore, Teko stands out among other lending protocols, becoming a competitive choice. Future Outlook Looking ahead, one thing is clear: the ecosystem will further expand, attracting many new applications. Their stability and feasibility will test whether people and applications truly need 100,000 TPS (transactions per second). For example, Visa's peak transaction processing capability reaches 56,000 TPS, handling transactions for millions of users worldwide, which has been working well. Now, imagine if there are 1 billion devices, each conducting a transaction every 10 seconds, totaling 100,000 TPS. However, not all devices will be operating simultaneously, alleviating the system's burden. Meanwhile, the GameFi market is likely to find new vitality, breaking through the current barriers faced by blockchain. Consider an RPG game on the blockchain, with 20,000 players online simultaneously: every explosion, item purchase, or shot is considered a transaction. Multiply that by thousands of simultaneous actions, and the result could be substantial, even surpassing 100,000 TPS. Now, look at high-frequency trading (HFT), a trading strategy that relies on executing thousands or even millions of small transactions within a fraction of a second. In HFT, speed is crucial: traders who confirm transactions faster can seize the best market positions, leaving competitors behind. If this speed can be brought to the blockchain, it would be a true breakthrough, propelling the entire industry to new heights. The reality of these scenarios will become clear by the end of 2025 when the MegaETH mainnet launches, providing an opportunity to validate these ideas. Conclusion Many teams have attempted to create high-performance blockchains, but few have succeeded. Currently, all Ethereum Rollup solutions combined handle about 200-300 TPS, with little evidence of demand for higher capacity. MegaETH has proposed an attractive scaling solution, promising to deliver 100,000+ TPS and sub-10-millisecond block times. This could be the ultimate scaling breakthrough. However, we must remain patient and observe whether such massive blockchain processing power is truly needed and whether MegaETH's user acquisition strategy proves effective. With the mainnet scheduled to launch by the end of 2025, MegaETH has a significant opportunity to prove its potential. We will soon find out whether it can deliver on its promises, spark user interest, and possibly even bridge the performance gap between Web2 and Web3. 「Original Article Link」
TVP Report: Pre-Seed Bitcoin Startup Investments Surge 767% Since 2021
Early-stage investment in Bitcoin-native startups saw a significant surge in 2024, underscoring the rapid expansion of a once-niche sector, according to a recent report by Trammell Venture Partners (TVP). Despite a 22.1% drop in total capital raised across the broader market, the number of Bitcoin startup deals grew by nearly 32%, with pre-seed investments alone increasing by 50%. TVP defines “Bitcoin-native” companies as those built around Bitcoin’s monetary principles and protocol stack, developing products that leverage its growth and utility. Unlike broader crypto ventures that span multiple blockchain networks, these startups focus entirely on Bitcoin, embedding themselves deeply within its ecosystem to drive its adoption and development. The report highlights that in 2024, the volume of Bitcoin-native pre-seed deals was more than seven times higher than in 2021, signalling a sharp rise in new startups and innovation within the sector. This momentum was reflected in seed and Series A funding rounds, which saw deal volumes rise by 30% and 60%, respectively, year-over-year. Although the overall capital raised declined, the continued increase in deal count and new company formation indicates growing confidence in Bitcoin-native startups. TVP emphasizes that four consecutive years of growth signal that these companies could soon capture a more significant portion of crypto venture funding. Further bolstering this momentum is the growing institutional support for Bitcoin-native startups. The report noted that in 2024, firms like Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Valor Equity Partners participated in funding rounds, signalling rising confidence in business models built around Bitcoin’s protocol layers. Despite Bitcoin representing over half of the crypto market’s total value, it accounted for just 2.3% of venture funding last year. TVP views this imbalance as an opportunity for Bitcoin’s ecosystem to expand beyond its traditional mining and asset-holding roles, opening doors for further growth and investment. A related report by Lattice Fund found that more than 80% of crypto startups funded in 2022 remain operational despite market downturns. Of the 1,200 startups that raised $5 billion, 76% launched a mainnet product, while 18.5% have ceased operations. Among the success stories, Ethereum re-staking protocol Eigenlayer stood out, though only 1.5% of startups reached Product Market Fit, and 12% secured additional funding. If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , and CoinMarketCap Community . “Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
EigenLayer to go live with Slashing mechanism on 17 April
EigenLayer has posted on the X platform that it intends to go live on 17 April with its mainnet Slashing mechanism, which allows the AVS to set conditions that operators must comply with, and to penalise or reward operators for failing to meet these requirements.Slashing will be implemented in phases, and it will be up to operators and pledgees to choose whether or not to accept the Slashing standard. Slashing will be implemented in phases and operators and pledgees will need to choose whether to accept the Slashing standard.
EigenLayer introduces slashing for Ethereum restakers in April
EigenLayer (CRYPTO:EIGEN), the Ethereum-based (CRYPTO:ETH) restaking protocol, is set to implement slashing for restakers starting April 17, marking a major milestone in its development. This introduces a security mechanism designed to penalise node operators and restakers for poor performance or malicious behavior, enhancing the protocol’s reliability. The slashing mechanism will be gradually rolled out, with users able to voluntarily opt into it. EigenLayer explained that if operators fail to meet performance conditions, they may be penalised by the Actively Validated Services (AVS), whereas successful operators can receive rewards. Launched in 2023, EigenLayer allows Ethereum stakers to reuse their staked Ether (ETH) as collateral to secure third-party protocols like AVSs, expanding Ethereum's security without requiring separate validator networks. The addition of slashing aims to bolster security and incentivise reliable service. With over 30 AVSs live and more under development, EigenLayer is growing in the crypto ecosystem. These services include EigenDA, a data availability service, and ARPA Network, which offers trustless randomisation. The protocol also launched its native token, EIGEN, in October 2024, to further secure consensus-based systems. Despite its advancements, some critics, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have raised concerns about the potential risks of restaking, particularly its impact on Ethereum’s security principles and the potential for centralisation. Others worry that yield-driven behavior might compromise network integrity. EigenLayer's founder, Sreeram Kannan, emphasised the protocol's initial focus on onboarding crypto-native applications like decentralised finance (DeFi) and gaming, with plans to eventually target broader consumer markets. At the time of reporting, the Eigenlayer (EIGEN) price was $0.8237, and the Ethereum (ETH) price was $1,800.25.
The whales (or institutions) who bought EIGEN last year lost more than $22.42 million in May
last year, he made a big purchase of EIGEN's whale (or institution), losing more than $22.42 million in May. He first spent $32.45 million to buy EIGEN at a high point, losing $17.19 million. After that, he bought HYPE with some of the positions, also taking over at the highest point and losing $5.21 million. The $32.45 million in October last year is now only worth $10.03 million, losing $22.42 million (-69%) in 5 months.
A certain whale bought EIGEN and HYPE tokens at a high point, now suffering a loss of 22.42 million US dollars
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jing, a certain whale has lost 22.42 million (-69%) from October last year to now. Their operations are as follows: -Firstly, in October last year, they used 21 addresses to purchase 8.917 million EIGEN for $32.45 million at an average price of $3.64 per unit; -At the end of December, 2.417 million EIGEN were sold at an average price of $3.77 and exchanged for 9.12 million USDC. Then, when HYPE was at its highest point, it bought 295 thousand HYPE coins at $30.9 each; now that the price of HYPE is only $13, there's a floating loss of $5.21 million on HYPE. -In recent days, this whale has also cut losses by selling 2.862 million EIGEN at $1.068 each in exchange for 31.6 WBTC ($3.05 million). The whale's $32.45 million from last October has now turned into 295,000 HYPE ($3.9 million), 3,638,000 EIGEN ($3.08 million), and 36.1 WBTC ($3.05 million). The total value is $10.03 million.
Sam Green's Cambrian Secures $5.9M to Revolutionize AI-Powered Finance
The company, led by a16z’s CSX accelerator program, has successfully raised $5.9 million in a seed round, establishing itself as a major player in the rapidly changing world of AI-driven financial agents. Green, an experienced professional in AI and cryptography, has always been a pioneer in innovation. Prior to founding Cambrian, he was a co-founder of Semiotic Labs, a core developer team for The Graph, and contributed to Odos, a major liquidity aggregator that has enabled billions in trading volume. With a PhD in reinforcement learning, his expertise has positioned him as a leader in constructing the necessary infrastructure for AI agents to function in high-stakes financial environments. Cambrian's goal is to equip financial agents with hyperaware intelligence by combining on-chain and off-chain data. Its technology guarantees that AI models can handle large amounts of verified financial information, allowing for precise, risk-aware decision-making. Supported by Stanford's Blockchain Builders Fund and notable angels from The Graph ecosystem, Cambrian is poised to redefine how AI interacts with financial markets. Participation in a16z's accelerator is a significant milestone for Cambrian as it prepares to launch its testnet and mainnet. Green's leadership and profound understanding of AI-driven finance have already attracted key partnerships, including collaborations with EigenLayer and Virtuals. Cambrian's initial AI agent, Deep42, is already providing high-quality DeFi insights, demonstrating the practical applications of its data solutions. Green envisions a future where AI agents operate with unparalleled financial intelligence, bridging the gap between data and decision-making. With this funding, Cambrian is ready to lead the agentic finance revolution, empowering AI to navigate complex markets with certainty and efficiency. The original article was published on Coindoo.
Top Token Unlocks This Week: OP, SUI, DYDX, EIGEN, And More
Token unlocks play a crucial role in shaping the price movements and market sentiment of cryptocurrencies. As new tokens enter circulation, they can impact liquidity, investor confidence, and overall market trends. In the coming days, several major projects, including Optimism (OP), Sui (SUI), dYdX (DYDX), EigenLayer (EIGEN), IOTA (IOTA), and Ethena (ENA), are set to unlock millions of tokens. This article breaks down the key details of these unlocks, their potential impact, and what traders should expect in terms of price action and market trends. OP According to CoinMarketCap, Optimism is trading at $0.7842 at press time and has a market capitalization of $1.27B. Its trading volume has dipped by 26.88% in the last 24 hours, reaching $92.74M, and in the past week, its price has decreased by 8.75%. OP has a circulation supply of 1.62B OP, and on March 31, 2025, the coin is expected to release an additional 31.34M OP, which is about 1.93% of the Cir. supply and worth $24.58M. Source: TradingView The Relative Strength Index is at 37.91, which is near the oversold territory of 30 and indicates an increasing selling pressure. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence line at -0.043 is above the signal line at -0.049, which points to a bullish momentum. But, the narrowing gap between the lines and the declining positive histogram bars suggest a possibility for a bearish breakout. SUI At the time of publication, SUI had a price of $2.32, an increase of 1.64% in the last seven days. It had a market cap of $7.36B and a 24-hour volume of $860.09M. Sui has a circulating supply of 3.16B SUI and a total supply of 10B SUI. The coin is expected to unlock 64.19M SUI (2.03% of Cir.supply), worth $147.65M on 1 April 2025. Source: TradingView The MACD is above the signal line, which indicates a bullish momentum but the weakening of the positive histogram represents a possibility of a reversal. The RSI has a value of 44.01 which represents a bearish trend and based on the chart, the RSI value is likely to decline further due to increasing selling pressure. Related: Top 5 AI Tokens: Dev Powering Future Growth? DYDX At the time of writing, the coin is trading at $0.6446 and has a market cap of $490.99M. DYDX 24-hour volume has declined by 21.79%, to $13.4M and has a circulation supply of 762.03M. On April 1, 2025, the coin will unlock 8.33M DYDX, which is about 1.09% of Cir. supply and worth $5.41M. Source: TradingView Technical indicators like RSI and MACD represent bearish momentum for the coin. The RSI value had declined from the neutral territory of 50 to the current value of 43.26, indicating rising selling pressure. Despite the MACD line above the signal line the reducing positive histograms and the narrowing gap between the lines suggest a bearish breakout is possible. EIGEN EigenLayer is trading at a price of $0.9242, declining 10.18% in the last 24 hours. Its volume is at $35.43M, a decrease of 18.52%, and has a market cap of $217.17M. The coin has a total supply of 1.71B EIGEN and a circulating supply of 234.97M EIGEN. About 1.29M EIGEN (0.53% of Cir. supply), worth $1.21M will be unlocked on 1 April 2025. Source: TradingView The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently at 30.21, indicating that the coin is in oversold territory. There is a possibility for further decline into deeper oversold levels before any potential rebound above this zone. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line stands at -0.119, slightly above the signal line at -0.127, which suggests a bullish outlook. However, the histogram points to a potential bearish breakout if selling pressure does not decline. IOTA IOTA is trading at $0.1728 and has a market cap of $637.42M at press time. The coin’s price has dipped by 5.79% in the last 7 days, and its trading volume has also declined by 17.32% in the last 24 hours, reaching $21.32M. IOTA has a circulating supply of 3.68B IOTA and will unlock an additional supply of 15.16M IOTA (0.41% of Cir. supply) worth $2.65M on 2 April 2025. Source: TradingView The RSI and MACD indicators suggest a short-term bearish momentum for the coin. The RSI value of 40.47 points to increasing selling pressure, while the narrowing gap between the MACD and the signal line, along with the declining positive histogram, indicates weakening bullish momentum. ENA Ethena is trading at $0.3718, an increase of 4.28% over the past week, at the time of publication. It has a circulating supply of 5.28B ENA and a 24-hour volume of $111.32M. On April 2, 2025, Ethena will unlock 40.63M ENA, which corresponds to 0.77% of Cir. supply and is worth $14.76M. Source: TradingView The MACD line is currently trading above the signal line, indicating bullish momentum. The RSI stands at 45.37, hovering near the neutral territory of 50. If buying pressure increases, it could push the RSI higher, potentially signaling further upward movement and strengthening the bullish trend. Related: Top 5 Game Coins: Building & Booming! Next Target? Conclusion With upcoming token unlocks, Optimism (OP), Sui (SUI), dYdX (DYDX), EigenLayer (EIGEN), IOTA (IOTA), and Ethena (ENA) could see shifts in market dynamics. Increased supply may lead to short-term volatility, but long-term trends will depend on demand and investor sentiment. Technical indicators like RSI and MACD suggest varying momentum across these assets, highlighting the need for careful analysis. As the market reacts, staying informed on price action and project updates will be key to making strategic investment decisions. The post Top Token Unlocks This Week: OP, SUI, DYDX, EIGEN, And More appeared first on Cryptotale.
Filled orders
Delivery scenarios
