The Latest Tech News in Crypto and Blockchain

Jan. 11: Injective, a finance-focused Web3 blockchain, launched the Volan chain upgrade, its biggest protocol update to date, which will introduce the Real World Asset (RWA) Module. According to the team: “Injective’s new RWA Module offers a groundbreaking approach to creating and managing permissioned assets with extensive customization options. This module enables both institutions and individual users to easily launch and access a variety of structured products and RWAs such as fiat pairs, treasury bills, and exclusive credit products, accessible through compliant gateways.” (INJ)

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Jan. 11: Sui, a layer-1 blockchain, is getting DePIN and DeWi through a groundbreaking partnership with Karrier One, according to the team: “The deal also includes strategic investment from Sui to fuel the expansion of Karrier One’s global footprint and deployment on Sui. The technical integration will feature DePIN services powered by the Sui blockchain and the launch of a Karrier One Decentralized Wireless (DeWi) network token on Sui. In addition, contributors to and participants in the Karrier One ecosystem will be able to earn DeWi tokens for various activities such as deploying radios and mobile usage involving Karrier One phone numbers.”

Jan. 11: Union Labs, a sovereign interoperability layer, has partnered with modular blockchain network Movement Labs and the Cosmos-based asset-issuance appchain Noble to transport native USDC and other assets across Celestia’s modular stack. According to the team: “Union’s zero-knowledge IBC bridge facilitates a seamless flow of liquidity across Movement rollups, the broader Cosmos ecosystem and Celestia’s sovereign rollups, as well as allowing for general message passing and asset transfers on Movement.”

Jan. 11: Open Dollar (OD), an Arbitrum lending protocol, will airdrop 78k+ tokens to qualifying wallets on January 17, approximately three weeks before the lending protocol goes live on Arbitrum Mainnet. According to the team: “Open Dollar is a lovechild of DeFi and NFTs, innovating a concept called Non-Fungible Vaults (NFVs) which enables tradable loans as NFTs, with a focus on liquid staking tokens and Arbitrum native assets, so users earn their staking rewards while they trade. Three percent of the total token supply, 300,000 Open Dollar Governance tokens, will be airdropped to qualifying users.”

Jan. 11: Bitfinity Network, a Web3 infrastructure firm, on Thursday announced it has successfully secured over $7 million in funding from notable backers, including Polychain Capital and ParaFi Capital, advancing its mission to establish off-chain infrastructure for Bitcoin and Ordinals. According to the team: “The raise coincides with the development of the Bitfinity Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) – a Bitcoin sidechain integrated into the Internet Computer blockchain that enables solidity developers and existing EVM-compatible services to build Bitcoin-enabled decentralized apps (dApps).”

Jan. 11: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested raising the network’s gas limit by 33% on Wednesday – a move that would raise the network’s transaction capacity and could reduce fees for end-users, but could increase operational costs for validators.

Jan. 11: AOFverse, a prominent mobile gaming studio, secured a “significant” grant from Arbitrum Foundation, according to the team: AOFverse plans to innovate mobile gaming with blockchain tech, emphasizing Web3 integration and user education. Their game Army of Tactics is gaining popularity with over 4 million TikTok followers. The AFG token enhances community engagement. This partnership aims to create a blockchain-powered metaverse, setting new gaming industry standards.”

Jan. 11: Uri Kolodny, the CEO of Ethereum scaling and privacy technology StarkWare, is stepping down due to a family health issue. StarkWare president Eli Ben-Sasson will become CEO, and Kolodny will continue to serve on the StarkWare board of directors, the company said on Thursday.

Jan. 11: Upcoming layer 1 blockchain Berachain opened its testnet to the public Thursday, a debut for its “proof of liquidity” consensus mechanism that garnered $42 million in funding last year. Berachain is a meme-fueled project built in the Cosmos ecosystem. Its creators are largely pseudonymous crypto developers who identify themselves online with pictures of cartoon bears – some smoking weed.

Jan. 11: Aave, the decentralized non-custodial lending and borrowing protocol, is voting to onboard PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company. In an ongoing governance vote, 99.98% of the participating AAVE token holders favor integrating PYUSD into AAVE’s Ethereum-based pool. The voting on the proposal, termed temperature check, floated by Trident Digital on Dec. 18, will end later Thursday. The vote follows decentralized exchange Curve’s December decision to host PYUSD.

Jan. 11: Ryder, a hardware crypto wallet, announced it will become a signer for the upcoming Stacks Nakamoto upgrade as well as operate the FAST pool. According to the team: “The FAST Pool is one of the first and currently one of the largest stacking services in the Stacks ecosystem, boasting a total TVL of 43 million STX. Ryder’s participation in helping to decentralize the Bitcoin movement on Stacks’ Layer 2, will strengthen the security of the network and enable the next generation of scalable Bitcoin applications.”