First Mover Americas: AI Mania Heats Up
The latest price moves in bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets in context for Feb. 22, 2024. First Mover is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter that contextualizes the latest actions in the crypto markets.Source
Bitcoin ETF Approval Comparable to ‘Naked Emperor’s New Clothes,’ ECB Officials Say
The U.S. SEC’s approval of multiple spot ETFs and the billions of dollars that have poured in since doesn’t make Bitcoin a good investment or a better means of payment, the central bankers said in a blog post.Source
Polygon, StarkWare Tout New ‘Circle STARKs’ as Breakthrough for Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Circle STARKs are supposed to accelerate the proving process for zero-knowledge rollups, according to a white paper published by Polygon Labs and StarkWare.Source
The Protocol: Restaking Tokens Are Exploding, and Restaking Isn’t Even Live
In this week’s issue of our weekly blockchain tech newsletter, Sam Kessler explores how “liquid restaking tokens” or LRTs are remaking decentralized finance. PLUS: Starknet’s STRK airdrop, Stellar’s smart-contract facelift and bitcoin’s supply crunch.Source
Bitcoin Zero-Knowledge Rollup Citrea Raises $2.7M in Seed Funding
Citrea says it plans to use zero-knowledge cryptography to help grow Bitcoin’s budding decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT ecosystems.Source
Former Fidelity Digital Assets Head Joins Advisory Board of Ethereum L2 Layer N
Luc Froehlich will help guide Layer N’s Real World Asset, TradFi, and tokenization strategies.Source
Nvidia’s Hotly Anticipated Earnings May ‘Trigger’ Bitcoin and Crypto Correction, Analyst Says
‘The most important stock on Earth’ could disappoint on a weak PC market and AI saturation, with Wall Street wanting more from the GPU giant, pulling down crypto and equities, the report said.Source
Collapsed Real Estate-Backed Stablecoin Charts Path to Recovery
Tangible is looking to move past its failed stablecoin after learning the liquidity lesson the hard way.Source
STRK Tokens Claimed Hit 420M in a Day as On-Chain Metrics Soar
More than 490,000 individual wallets claimed 420 million starknet (STRK) tokens in the 24 hours after the highly anticipated airdrop went live, with the token’s market cap remaining above $1.2 billion.Source
Liquid Restaking Protocol Puffer Rakes in $1B in Deposits in Just 3 Weeks
Liquid restaking protocols are seeing ample demand from users as speculation mounts over potential applications for the Ethereum restaking juggernaut EigenLayer, and the prospects for rewards paid out to early users.Source