MakerDao initiates End Game with the introduction of the SKY protocol to create a new DeFi platform with its own stablecoin and governance token.
What is Sky Protocol? “Sky Protocol is a decentralized protocol with the Sky stablecoin USDS at its core,” MakerDao
The new DeFi will be named Sky Money that will give users access to the Sky protocol. Additionally, the Sky protocol will have its own new decentralized stablecoin, USDS, that will be established from the upgrade of the DAI stablecoin. Meanwhile, the governance token name is SKY token where you can upgrade the MKR token to SKY at a rate of 1:24,000 in the SKY protocol.
Don’t worry, MKR and DAI will be unchanged and users can voluntarily change the token.
According to a CoinDesk interview with Rune Christensen, MakerDao co-founder, he stated that "The fundamental factor was how to grow DeFi to gigantic scale, something as big as Tether or even bigger."
This could mean MakerDao wants to end its generation and introduce Sky protocol to the DeFi space.
Space and Time Labs Raises $20 Million to Bridge AI and Blockchain
Microsoft-backed startup Space and Time Labs has secured $20 million in Series A financing, boosting its total funding to $50 million. The funds will accelerate engineering, product development, and community growth. The company aims to equip developers with tools and infrastructure to enhance applications at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain. As AI continues to evolve, blockchain's capability to authenticate data could mitigate risks associated with AI proliferation. Space and Time recently released Proof of SQL, a groundbreaking zero-knowledge coprocessor for trustless data processing, and is developing verifiable large language models. The latest funding round saw participation from Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital, highlighting the industry's belief in blockchain's critical role in advancing both DeFi and AI applications.
Animoca-backed startup, KOR Protocol, aims to solve the problem of music copyright laws and entertainment IP such as video games, live streams, eSports, etc., where creators can label their creations, easily distribute the content, and even monetize the content. As a result, KOR Protocol made a KOR Player where users can play and remix music through the suite of tools such as the sound library and artificial intelligence to authenticate music, and users can get paid royalties in crypto.
Now DOGE has a new abbreviation, Department of Government Efficiency, where Elon Musk's government efficiency commission proposal was accepted by Sir Donald Trump. Additionally, Elon said, “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”
Just recently, Rudd et al.'s (2024) published a journal stating that treated methane from landfills can be used for Bitcoin mining. Methane is one of the landfill products which is 28 times more dangerous to the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide. However, treating landfill gas (LFG), such as methane, to produce renewable natural gas and electricity can be used for Bitcoin mining or any data center and grid consumer. This process will prevent it from being wasted and becoming a toxic threat to landfills, aside from flaring the methane.
The research results showed that Bitcoin mining is one of the economical products from the use of methane waste, which provides a new income source from generating new Bitcoin blocks where the BTC that was obtained can be sold to the crypto market. This innovative approach aligns economic incentives with environmental goals that will encourage private-sector participation in methane mitigation efforts and shifting from traditional regulation-driven approaches.
Crypto sector dump? Based on Blockworks research, the increase of numerous new sectors such as RWA, AI, and DePIN into the crypto space. The AI and RWA have surged above 100% on YTD relative performance, even though it doesn't last to July 2024. Both sectors just down to under 50%. Meanwhile, DePIN never rose to 100% on YTD relative performance and kept lower in July 2024.
The PayPal stablecoin, PYUSD, has finally achieved a market cap of over $900M. This increase in PYUSD minting is attributed to the expansion of its operations from the Ethereum network to the Solana network at the end of May 2024. Solana-based protocols such as Kamino, Drift, and Marginfi have introduced PYUSD-boosted rewards with double-digit annualized returns for token holders, leading to an increase in active PYUSD addresses to up to 24K. So do you use PYUSD?
Due to the Avalanche BOOST program, Avalanche TVL on DeltaPrime has increased, the saving deposit and borrowing TVL has increased to $32M and $17M respectively.
In July, the Avalanche Foundation launched BOOST, an incentive program to add Avalanche coin to support the DeFi ecosystem.
Does the BOOST program work? Based on our network research, they mention that it increased the Avalanche TVL ecosystem. For instance, Avalanche TVL on Pharaoh has increased to $13M.
BNB Smart Chain (BSC) with a TVL of value around $6.2B, making it achieve rank 3 in the layer 1 blockchain ecosystem. In the BSC ecosystem project, Venus takes 32.83% of the total TVL.
530K unique wallets have made 12.6M staking transactions in Solana since August 2021. Currently, Solana protocol has managed the staking asset with over 24M SOL and 50% of the total staked Jito managed it.