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- 10/17/24: The Surge Is Coming 🌊🧠💰
10/17/24: The Surge Is Coming 🌊🧠💰
Top News
Vitalik publishes part 2 of his Ethereum roadmap focused on “The Surge”
A16z publishes State of Crypto 2024 research report
Polymarket bettor Fredi9999 may have $26M bets on Trump
Specs’ Insights
1. Vitalik publishes part 2 of his Ethereum roadmap focused on “The Surge”
Possible futures for the Ethereum protocol, part 2: The Surge
vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/1…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin)
12:43 AM • Oct 17, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → Guys, a new Vitalik just dropped! Our creator and supreme leader, Vitalik Buterin, just published a new blog post outlining key goals for phase 2 of the Ethereum roadmap, “The Surge.”
For context, we’re currently in phase 1 of 6, “The Merge,” which was focused on establishing a simple, robust, and decentralized proof-of-stake consensus. Now, "The Surge" is all about scaling that foundation to hit 100,000+ transactions per second on L1 and L2.
His post reignited the L1 vs L2 debate, highlighting risks if L2s become too successful and L1 remains with low TPS, including:
Little value accrual back to the L1
The L1 weakening, incentivizing L2s to go independent
L2s having weaker security assurances than Ethereum
Vitalik emphasizes hitting 100k TPS while ensuring decentralization and security of the L1, encouraging L2s to embrace ETH’s core values (trustless, open, censorship-resistant) and pushing for maximum L2 interoperability. The key takeaway: we want Ethereum to feel like one big ecosystem.
To me, the future is rollup-centric — L1 alone won’t scale for DeFi and global commerce. But the challenge is balancing L2 expansion without compromising L1 security.
2. A16z publishes State of Crypto 2024 research report
We’ve just released our latest State of Crypto report.
It shares insights on key trends — like stablecoins, L2s, and AI — plus, crypto’s rise as a hot policy issue, new data on builders and users, and much more.
Full report: a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/…
Here are 7 top takeaways ⬇️
— a16z crypto (@a16zcrypto)
4:18 PM • Oct 16, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → I just got smarter. A16z just dropped their State of Crypto 2024 report and it’s full of juicy insights. I highly recommend setting aside 30 minutes to read it — and then read it again.
Not only is it great brain food for crypto investors, builders, and creators, but it’s also S-tier ammunition for redpilling your family at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
One of my favorite takeaways: stablecoins did $8.5T in transactions volume last quarter, which is over 2x Visa’s $3.9T — and that’s just stablecoins!
I won’t spoil the rest of the report. Do yourself a favor and give it a read, then hop in Specs.Chat to discuss. The hive mind feeds on your support.
3. Polymarket bettor Fredi9999 may have $26M bets on Trump
Data suggests a single entity has been purchasing all Trump related bets on @Polymarket totaling $26 million.
- Fredi9999
- PrincessCaro
- Michie
- Theo4Taking a look at their betting activity we can analyze when the accounts are placing bets.
What's most interesting is when… x.com/i/web/status/1…— Fozzy (@fozzydiablo)
1:57 AM • Oct 16, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → Data suggests Polymarket whale Fredi9999 may be betting operating from multiple accounts, betting as much as $26M on Trump
The various accounts all exhibit nearly identical trading patterns and share similar funding sources, with deposits coming from Kraken in $500k or $1M chunks.
If true (and I think it is), my first question is: why operate from multiple accounts? What are they trying to hide? What is their motive?
Crypto Twitter, naturally, has theories. Some I’ve seen:
Skew odds in favor of Trump for the "stolen election" narrative
Create an "underdog" appearance for Kamala to boost voter turnout
Kamala-dependent business hedging against a Trump win
An insider betting on some bombshell case against Harris/Walz
Or just a billionaire (cough, Elon Musk) betting for fun
While there’s no telling what Fredi and Friend’s true motive is, these accounts probably are the same entity/individual. Furthermore, while $26M might sound like a lot, it’s chump change for somebody rich/powerful to get what they want.
Meanwhile, Polymarket is now the #1 news app, flipping the New York Times.
Everything Else
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Kraken launches wrapped Bitcoin token called kBTC
Crypto usage sets records amid regulatory uncertainty: A16z
Stripe in talks to acquire stablecoin-focused fintech firm
Radiant Capital suffers $51M exploit on BNB Chain and Arbitrum
PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin market cap down 40% from August peak
Dogecoin prices rise 10% amid Elon government efficiency department
TON blockchain taps Axelar for interoperability push
Fuel Labs debuts 'Ignition' rollup network with focus on parallelization
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
Arthur Hayes says Bitcoin will 'rise stupendously' as Middle East conflict grows
JPMorgan says US-listed Bitcoin miners hit record 29% of hashrate
Crypto VC market is tepid as Q3 investments declined 20%
Binance Labs invests in Bitcoin liquid staking platform Lombard
RWA tokenization startup Plume Network offers $100M in solar assets for yield
Bitcoin-backed stablecoin developer Hermetica raises $1.7M in seed funding
VanEck invests on web3 sci-fi world and card game Paralell TCG
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
Nishad Singh lawyers ask judge to spare him the prison time
Coinbase accuses SEC of 'erroneous denials' in FOIA request
Bitfinex hacker deserves 5-year sentence for laundering $8B, DOJ says
Forcount promoter sentenced to 20 years in crypto Ponzi scheme case
Jump Trading accused of pump and dump by game developer
🌎 Rest Of The World
UK political parties ignoring crypto is a ‘disservice,’ says ex-Tory MP
Asian wealth managers embrace crypto, predict Bitcoin at $100K by year-end
Developers linked to North Korea helped develop Cosmos staking module
Ireland to draft new crypto rules ahead of EU money laundering crackdown
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse
Realm of Historia launches first NFT collection to make history ‘accessible’
GOAT meme coin trader turns $5K into $1.5M
GraFun starts Labs division to boost memecoin ecosystem on BNB Chain
deBridge token goes live with DBR airdropped to 491K wallets
Yuga Labs CryptoPunks book officially available for pre-order
Sean Bonner reveals Not Ded, an addendum to Yuga’s CryptoPunk book