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  • Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 49 2023

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 49 2023

All things crypto, web3 and blockchain across all the Coin Clubs

TLDR: Google Allows Crypto Ads, Robinhood Launches BTC Trading App, Societe Generale's First Digital Green Bond on Ethereum, Osmosis And Umee Strategic Merger, Jito Launch JTO Token & LayerZero Announce Plans for Token Launch.

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Market & Airdrop Update

Before we dive in, make sure to check out our recent Market and Airdrop update:

Bitcoin Highlights of the Week

Switzerland-based Pando Asset has thrown its hat into the ring by filing for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.

Robinhood, the financial services company, launches a Bitcoin and crypto trading app in the European Union.

Robinhood became world-known after the GameStop stock scandal in 2021.

In collaboration with Tether, El Salvador introduces the 'Freedom Visa' program where residency grants and a route to citizenship for investors who invest $1 million in Bitcoin or USDT are given.

United Kingdom-based pension fund, M&G, has invested $20 million in the UK's first regulated Bitcoin derivatives exchange, the Global Futures & Options Holdings (GFO-X).

Ethereum Highlights of the Week

On December 4th, OpenZeppelin received a security disclosure about the presence of an issue arising from a problematic integration of two specific standards with ERC-2771 and Multicall.

Societe Generale, a prominent global TradFi bank, has issued its first digital green bond as a Security Token directly registered by SG-FORGE[1] on the Ethereum public blockchain.

Approximately 72% of data blocks posted to MEV-Boost, a middleware powering most validators on Ethereum, are now deemed "censored." This marks a significant rise from about 25% recorded in November 2022.

E-commerce giant Flipkart has revealed its strategic collaboration with Polygon to leverage the chain development kit (CDK) for scaling its FireDrops Web3 loyalty program as an Ethereum-based zero-knowledge (ZK) Layer-2 network.

Cosmos Highlights of the Week

The forthcoming merger between Osmosis and Umee's innovative cross-chain lending UX Chain represents a significant leap forward in reshaping the decentralized financial landscape.

Gno.land is one of the most anticipated chains launching in Cosmos, and they just dropped a big update. Let’s unpack the progress Gno.land is making:

  1. The Portal Loop: Elevating Development Experience

  2. Dynamic Realm Caller: A Paradigm Shift in Functionality

  3. DAO Structure & Tokenomics: Shaping Gno's Governance Landscape

  4. Gno Playground: Beta Unveiling for Developer Collaboration

  5. Gno Standard Libraries: Expanding the Developer Toolkit

  6. Gno Language Server (Gnols): Empowering Code Writing

  7. RustVM & Bytecode Go VM Implementation: Advancements in Virtualization

Circle has moved its cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) to the mainnet on Noble, a move that enables the native creation of USDC within Cosmos' inter-blockchain communication protocol (IBC). 

Quicksilver, a liquidity staking platform, introduces their Foundation Delegation Program with the purpose of delegating tokens to active validators who make significant contributions to the chain and ecosystem.

Cosmos Proposal #854 has been approved which enables the v14 upgrade at block 18262000 and introduction of the cryptographic verification of equivocation which will enhance security in Cosmos.

Other Highlights of the Week

The Solana-native liquid staking protocol, Jito, launched its JTO token creating a tidal wave in the Solana ecosystem. Post launch, the JTO token surged to a fully diluted valuation of $3.35 billion.

Parsec Finance, a crypto analytics platform, has branched out with their block explorer Parsec.Fi. With Parsec.Fi, users get complete interoperability with Parsec's on-chain terminal.

Google has updated its crypto-related advertising policy to allow ads about crypto trusts from the end of January 2024, the same month that spot BTC ETFs are predicted to be approved in the United States.

Coinbase Wallet has introduced a new way easy way for their users to send crypto. Now with Coinbase Wallet, users can send crypto on any platform by sharing a link.

Match now offers cross-chain swaps across 7 networks where users can trade tokens directly for a different asset on another blockchain in one go, with aggregated liquidity from 100s of DEXs.

The Starknet Foundation which is the steward of the Starknet L2, have issued an update on its plans to distribute 1.8 billion STRK tokens as part of its network rebates program and user reward program.

The blockchain interoperability protocol, LayerZero, has officially announced plans to launch a native token by early 2024. LayerZero has been under a lot of recent speculation as to whether they would launch a token, given the protocol's initial design for token integration.