Crypto Daily Digest - January 12th

DeFi

dYdX V4 - Full Decentralization

Decentralized Exchange dYdX today released its V4 version roadmap with plans to release its V4 version by the end of 2022. dYdX V4 is designed to be fully decentralized, with no central components, and is fully managed by the community. At the same time, no central party (including dYdX Trading Inc.) will be able to charge transaction fees on dYdX V4. When the protocol is fully migrated to dYdX V4, the current dYdX perpetual protocol will be deprecated. In addition, the V4 release will explore other features such as additional trading products such as spot and margin; improved margin and collateral options; improved market structure and trading; seamless addition of new trading markets; and more. Source

Goldfinch Releases $GFI Token Rules

DeFi Lending Protocol GoldFinch released $GFI token rules. Its tokens will be used primarily for Community Governance, Backers Staking, Auditor Staking and Votes, Community Donations, etc. The total $GFI volume is 114,285,715, of which 16% is allocated to liquidity providers, 8% to Backers, 3% is reserved for auditors, 3% for borrowers, 0.65% for contributors, 14.8% for the community treasury, 28.4% for the team, 21.6% for early supporters, and 4.4% for Warbler Labs. It is reported that Senior Pool has now started liquidity mining. Previously, Goldfinch announced on January 7 that it had closed a $25 million Series A+ round of funding led by a16z. Source

Zenlink is Now Live on Moonbeam

Zenlink, a cross-chain asset transfer protocol, is now live on Moonbeam, enabling Web3 applications to be deployed to both Kusama and Polkadot. At the same time, Zenlink has announced a long-term liquidity incentive program for Moonbeam's native token $GLMR and assets cross-chained from other blockchain networks to Moonbeam network. Zenlink is a cross-chain DEX protocol based on Polkadot and is dedicated to sharing the DEX order book between parachains on Polkadot network. Source

Axelar Plans to Launch Mainnet in February

The cross-chain interoperability protocol Axelar is scheduled to launch its mainnet in February. It is said that its interoperability protocol will connect and support other public chains, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Terra, Moonbeam, Fantom and Avalanche. In addition, the protocol will release an update to a sample application called Satellite, which enables developers to build interoperable decentralized applications on the Axelar network and backend using the new API and Axelar SDK. Previously, Axelar closed a $25 million Series A round of funding in July 2021 led by Polychain Capital with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Digital and others. Source

Moonbeam is Now Live on Polkadot

The smart contract platform Moonbeam is now live on Polkadot and is the first fully operational parachain on Polkadot, with additional infrastructure deployments to follow. $GLMR holders can now stake their tokens and become active network members by participating in the on-chain governance system. In addition, 30% of the token reward is released immediately upon the end of the crowdsourced loan, with the remaining 70% released linearly over 96 weeks. Moonbeam is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform on Polkadot, allowing for easy building of natively interoperable applications. Source

$CREAM Holders will be Eligible to Receive $IB Token Distribution

Iron Bank, a cross-protocol lending application, posted that $CREAM token holders will be eligible to receive $IB token distributions on Fantom network in the form of a 4-year lock of $veIB. It is reported that $CREAM token holders can receive $veIB distributions by staking $CREAM tokens in the iceCREAM or 2/3/4 year long-term staking pools. The snapshot of the project will be available on January 27th at 10:00 UTC. iron Bank has a cross-protocol lending feature that brings together DeFi protocol ties to provide lines of credit directly to other protocols. Source

NFT

LooksRare Surpassed OpenSea with $275 Million in Daily Trading Volume

According to Dune Analytics data, as of 4:00 UTC on January 12, LooksRare daily trading volume exceeded $275 million, surpassing OpenSea ($122 million). Users who transact more than 3ETH on OpenSea between June 16, 2021 and December 16, 2021 will be eligible for its token $LOOKS airdrop. LooksRare is a community-centric NFT trading platform with 100% of its platform transaction fees allocated to token holders. Source

Fundings

Oasis Ecosystem Fund Backed by Binance Labs for $40 Million

The Privacy Computing Network Oasis Ecosystem Fund has received $40 million in support from Binance Labs to support the development of projects in the areas of Oasis Eco DeFi, Data DAO, NFT, and Metaverse to drive further prosperity in the Oasis ecosystem. The fund is currently at $200 million. The Oasis Network is Layer 1's decentralized blockchain network designed to enable data privacy in DeFi, DApp, NFT, DAO, and other Web3 applications. Other participants that have previously invested in the fund include AME Cloud Ventures, Dragonfly Capital Partners, FBG, Jump Capital, Hashed, NGC Ventures, Pantera Capital, and others. Source

Citadel Securities Closed $1.15 Billion Financing Led by Sequoia Capital

Citadel Securities, a leading global market maker, has closed a $1.15 billion round of funding at a $22 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Paradigm, Sequoia Heritage and others. Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia Capital, will join Citadel Securities' board of directors. Citadel Securities provides both institutional and retail investors with the liquidity they need to execute transactions across a broad array of equity and fixed income products. Its institutional business serves more than 1,600 clients, including many of the world's sovereign wealth funds and central banks. Source

Kingdom Karnage Closed $2 Million in Financing with Animoca Brands and Others

Kingdom Karnage, a cross-platform card game chain, has announced the closing of a $2 million funding round with participation from Animoca Brands, DFG and Enjin, among others. The funds raised will reportedly be used to develop its new GameFi mechanic, which is designed to accelerate the game's rollout and boost its player base. Kingdom Karnage is a P2E trading card game that enables users to own their own assets that can be traded or used in the game. It is reported that the game will launch its token $KKT and plans to build a bridge between the Binance Smart Chain and Enjin's Jumpnet, allowing zero gas fee transactions. Source