1. Layer1 blockchain project Sonic Labs announced that its mainnet has officially launched link
Layer1 blockchain project Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom) announced that its mainnet has officially launched. Sonic can handle up to 10,000 transactions per second, with sub-second finality and a native decentralized gateway to Ethereum. FTM holders can now use the upgraded portal to convert their tokens to S on Sonic at a 1:1 ratio, unlocking access to various applications on Sonic.
2. HashKey Chain announced that its mainnet has officially launched link
On December 18, HashKey Group's public chain HashKey Chain announced that its mainnet has officially launched, aiming to build a compliant-friendly and innovation-encouraging on-chain financial infrastructure. On November 11, HashKey Chain officially opened its testnet to developers and users. During the testnet period, HashKey Chain achieved over 24.72 million transactions, with more than 860,000 wallet addresses registered, an average block time of 2 seconds, gas fees as low as 0.1 Gwei, successfully deployed 50 projects, and over 300,000 community members actively participated.
3. Aptos appointed Avery Ching as the new CEO to drive the company into a new stage link
Aptos co-founder and CTO Avery Ching will take over as CEO, driving the company into a new stage. Aptos has launched an innovative supercomputing blockchain, featuring technologies such as dynamic parallelism, shared state, and storage sharding. The company plans to launch a new infrastructure plan in 2025 to further expand its global ecosystem, particularly in regions such as India, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and China. The former CEO, Mo Shaikh, will remain with the company as a strategic advisor. Aptos Labs co-founder Mo Shaikh announced his resignation from the CEO position.
4. Opensea tweet hints at the launch of related tokens in the future link
Opensea released a tweet citing the Opensea Foundation, implying that Opensea will launch related tokens in the future. Previously, The Block's former founder Mike Dudas posted an image on Twitter showing that OpenSea seemingly registered the OpenSea Foundation in the Cayman Islands on August 20 this year.
OpenSea data shows that since the official OpenSea Foundation Twitter launched, its official NFT Gemesis floor price has risen to 0.76 ETH, a 56% increase in the past 16 hours. Additionally, the sales volume of this NFT reached 698 transactions in the past hour, with a transaction value hitting 48.62 ETH.
5. The total NFT Marketplace trading volume reached $117 million, a high point since February 23, 2023 link
According to @sealaunch_ data panel, on December 17, the total NFT Marketplace trading volume reached $117 million, marking a high point since February 23, 2023, with Blur's trading volume accounting for 73.6%, amounting to $86 million. However, the number of transactions and trading users is still significantly lower than the previous peak. This may mainly relate to speculative users quickly flipping through the Blur bid Pool after the Pudgy Penguins token airdrop.
6. Kelp DAO announced KERNEL tokenomics, with a total supply of 20% allocated for airdrops link
Ethereum's third-largest liquidity restaking protocol Kelp DAO announced KERNEL tokenomics. Of this, 55% will be allocated to community rewards and airdrops (20% for airdrops, 35% for future community rewards), 5% will be allocated to ecosystems and partners, 20% will be used for private sales, and 20% will be allocated to the team and advisors. Additionally, 20% of the token airdrop will be distributed over 3 airdrop seasons. The first airdrop season (10% of total supply) snapshot date is December 31, 2024; the second airdrop season (5% of total supply) period is from January 1, 2025, to April 30, 2025, with an additional 15% loyalty reward for restaking by January 15, 2025; the remaining 5% airdrop plan is pending.
7. Internet celebrity squirrel Peanut's owner sent a cease and desist letter to Binance, requesting it stop infringing on the PNUT-related IP link
Internet celebrity squirrel Peanut's owner Mark Longo posted that he has sent a cease and desist letter to Binance through his law firm. The letter points out that Binance has used multiple intellectual properties, including the PNUT trademark and the cowboy-hatted squirrel image, without authorization. The letter indicates that Longo has used the PNUT trademark in the United States since April 2017, primarily for educational and public welfare projects related to animal protection, wildlife, and nature conservation. If the infringement is confirmed to be intentional, the compensation amount could be up to $150,000 for each infringement. The lawyer requests Binance to respond and cease all infringing activities by December 31.
8. Binance HODLer airdrop plan launches CAT and PENGU link
Binance announced the launch of the Binance HODLer airdrop plan for Simon’s Cat (CAT) and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU). Users can participate in the airdrop by staking BNB, with the event running from December 18, 2024, 12:00 to December 19, 2024, 11:59 (UTC). CAT and PENGU are community tokens inspired by well-known illustrated characters and penguin themes. Binance will list CAT and PENGU on December 17, 2024, at 09:00 (UTC) using seed tags.
9. Pudgy Penguins toy product QR codes were widely stolen link
Mask Network founder Suji Yan stated that many Pudgy Penguins toy products were ripped open in stores in New York on Tuesday, with QR codes being stolen; the sudden airdrop of tokens led many to flock to Walmart to steal these products' QR codes that might qualify for the airdrop. It states that the crypto community should condemn such behavior.
10. OKX announced the launch of the integrated platform Ordinals Launchpad link
OKX announced the launch of Ordinals Launchpad, an integrated platform that allows creators to publish, inscribe, and trade collectibles directly on Bitcoin. The platform officially launched 'Geminions,' the first Ordinals series launched by JRNE, a community-driven Web3 jewelry brand that first achieved NFC verification on Bitcoin. Since the inception of Ordinals, Bitcoin has seen 72,552,175 inscriptions, costing 6,940 BTC.
