Solana Leapfrogs XRP as Fifth-Largest Crypto, Spurred by Meme Coin Mania

Solana has overtaken XRP as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, with its market cap hitting a 20-month high of $33.7 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.Source

Celestia Rival Avail Inks Agreement With Starkware as Blockchain Data Race Heats Up

Avail’s new “data availability” solution, currently in testing, and Madara, which is Starkware’s sequencer, are both expected to go live in early 2024. They might be used in conjunction to create new application chains or “appchains.”Source

South Korea’s Financial Regulations Chief to Meet SEC Chairman Gensler Next Month: Report

The two aim to strengthen cooperation on crypto regulations before South Korea’s new crypto laws go into effect next year.Source

6 Predictions for Crypto in 2024: Pantera’s Paul Veradittakit

Tokenized social experiences, TradFi bridges, DePIN, DeFi Summer #2, and more.Source

DeFi Has a Risk Problem and It’s Time to Solve It

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Stacks’ STX Soars 27% on Positive Comments From Tim Draper

Stacks [STX], the native token of Stacks Network, rose by 25% on Wednesday on the back of praise from legendary investor Tim Draper.Source

Crypto Accounting and Tax Reporting Platform TRES Raises $11M to Add New Blockchains

TRES currently services clients with combined assets worth $19 billion, helping them manage, monitor and reconcile their digital asset activity across over 100 layer-1 and layer 2-blockchain networksSource

First Mover Americas: BlackRock, SEC Discuss ETF Listing Rules

The latest price moves in bitcoin [BTC] and crypto markets in context for Dec. 20, 2023. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.Source

Lido Tests of ‘Distributed Validator Technology’ Portend 2024 Decentralization Push

A big selling point of blockchain networks is that they are “decentralized.” But just a few validators, including those run by Lido, have gradually amassed a lion’s share of the power over the dominant smat-contracts blockchain, Ethereum. One idea is to decentralize the validators themselves.Source

China Vows to Clarify Web3, NFT Development Path

Moving forward, China’s Web 3 strategy would encourage the development of new business models such as NFT and accelerate the innovative application of Web3, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.Source