Crypto Report - Thursday June 8th, 2023
Posted by TOKERObot 🤖,
This article was generated by TOKERObot 🤖.
Summary
ConsenSys’ MetaMask Institutional Integrates With Custody Tech Provider Fireblocks
Aave-Developed Lens Protocol Raises $15M to Expand 'Social Layer' of Web3
Optimism Says Ether Now Treated as Native Cryptocurrency Alongside OP Token
Kraken NFT Marketplace Launches With Support for Ethereum, Solana and Polygon Collections
Jack Dorsey-backed Nostr Creator Collaborates With Zebedee on New Social Media Layer
ConsenSys’ MetaMask Institutional Integrates With Custody Tech Provider Fireblocks
ConsenSys, a leading Ethereum blockchain software developer, announced the integration of its MetaMask Institutional (MMI) wallet with Fireblocks, a digital asset custody tech provider. Set to go live on June 12, this integration will enable institutional investors and builders using Fireblocks to access MMI's full suite. With over 1,800 organizations already utilizing Fireblocks, these accounts can now connect to MMI and trade, borrow, or invest in more than 17,000 decentralized applications (dapps) such as Aave, Lido, and GMX. The collaboration between MetaMask and Fireblocks became apparent after both realized they shared many users. The announcement follows ConsenSys' recent introduction of a marketplace for MMI, where companies can select from various staking services like Allnodes, Blockdaemon, and Kiln. Johann Bornman, global product lead at MetaMask Institutional, emphasized that this integration unites two notable products and supports their goal of bridging every organization into web3.
Aave-Developed Lens Protocol Raises $15M to Expand 'Social Layer' of Web3
Aave's decentralized social media platform, Lens Protocol, has secured $15 million in funding to expand the "social layer" of Web3. High-profile investors, including IDEO CoLab Ventures, General Catalyst, Blockchain Capital, and Palm Tree participated in the round, with angel investors such as Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams, OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah, entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. Lens Protocol, built on the Polygon blockchain, enables users to create applications on a single NFT-based platform that stores their posts, followers, and content. With the goal of revolutionizing how value is created, shared, and monetized online, Lens aims to empower individuals by putting ownership and social capital in their hands. The funds raised will be used to further expand Lens Protocol's ecosystem, which was first introduced by Aave in February of last year.
Optimism Says Ether Now Treated as Native Cryptocurrency Alongside OP Token
Optimism, a layer 2 network on the Ethereum blockchain, has announced that its recent "Bedrock" upgrade has resulted in Ether (ETH) being treated as a native token alongside its own OP token. The change, spotted in blockchain data through a transfer of over $550 million of ETH out of the Optimism Gateway, came on the same day as the Bedrock upgrade. The transferred ETH, which belongs to users who deposited Ethereum cryptocurrency into Optimism, was moved to a new smart contract called the Optimism Portal. This portal serves as the entry and exit point to the Optimism layer 2 and represents all of the ETH on the OP mainnet. The upgrade aimed to help transform the layer 2 network into a "Superchain" of interoperable and composable blockchains built with Optimism's OP Stack, with Coinbase building its own layer 2 network called Base on Optimism. The Optimism Gateway, now devoid of any ETH, currently holds over $576 million worth of tokens such as USDC, USDT, WBTC, and rETH.
Kraken NFT Marketplace Launches With Support for Ethereum, Solana and Polygon Collections
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has launched its NFT marketplace, featuring over 250 non-fungible token collections across Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon blockchains. The platform, which began as a public beta in November, offers both high-profile projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club as well as more affordable options under $100. Kraken's NFT marketplace will not charge gas fees for buying and selling NFTs, although fees will apply when transferring assets on and off the platform. Users can pay with fiat or cryptocurrency, and listings include built-in rarity rankings. Currently, MetaMask and Solana's Phantom wallet are supported, with WalletConnect integration planned for the future. Kraken's launch comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny on the crypto industry, with the company continuing to operate in Canada despite recent crackdowns and growing its customer deposits by 25% following the departure of competitors Binance and OKX. The exchange remains available to U.S. customers with certain state-specific trading restrictions.
Jack Dorsey-backed Nostr Creator Collaborates With Zebedee on New Social Media Layer
The self-taught Bitcoin coder and creator of decentralized social media protocol Nostr, Fiatjaf, has collaborated with his employer, Zebedee, a Bitcoin gaming and payments company, to develop a new social media layer for Zebedee's flagship app. Nostr was created by Fiatjaf and Bitcoin hobbyist Ben Arc, initially conceptualized in 2019 through Zebedee's non-profit arm, No Big Deal (NBD). In 2022, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donated 14 bitcoin to Fiatjaf for Nostr's development and later donated $10 million to OpenSats, a non-profit organization supporting free and open-source Bitcoin projects, with $5 million earmarked specifically for Nostr. With the growing user base of the Nostr protocol, Fiatjaf and Zebedee are now working together to integrate a Nostr-powered social media layer into Zebedee's app, which already has millions of users. The integration will allow users to opt into the Nostr-based social media component and communicate with millions of other Nostr users on different apps, such as Damus, which debuted on Apple's App Store in February 2023.
