BTC hash rate rebounds for the first time since halving, and will release announcements about crypto projects

Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering the week's key news, market and contract data, mining information, project dynamics, technological progress and other industry dynamics. This article is a project weekly, taking you to see the progress of mainstream projects and star projects this week.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin hash rate rebounded for the first time since halving

Golden Finance reported that according to the CryptoQuant Hash Ribbons indicator, the Hash Ribbons indicator has just signaled the end of miners' capitulation, and at the same time the hash rate reached a new peak of 638 exahash per second (EH/s), which is the first rebound since Bitcoin halving. CryptoQuant explained: "Although the indicator is not designed to accurately point out the bottom of the price, it usually signals a reduction in miners' selling pressure before the price rises."

Viewpoint: Bitcoin's market share will not return to 70%, and other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum still have room for development

On August 18, Benjamin Cowen, founder of Into The Cryptoverse, said in an interview yesterday: "I don't think Bitcoin's dominance (market share) will return to 70%, and my expected target is 60%." Cowen explained that in "major altcoin seasons", such as 2021, Bitcoin's dominance tends to decline, but "slowly" recovers to previous levels after the market turns bearish. However, in this cycle, he is more confident that even at high prices, Bitcoin will not return to the same market share as in the past. "I think Ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies have room for development," Cowen added, noting that Bitcoin will "take the last step" toward 60% as early as September or at the latest in December.

Bloomberg: Bitcoin and crypto markets have fallen significantly so far in August, while global stocks are returning to all-time highs

Golden Finance reported that Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have fallen sharply so far this month, but global stocks are returning to all-time highs after shaking off panic about U.S. economic growth. Bitcoin fell about 10% in August, lagging behind the nearly 1% increase in MSCI Inc.'s global stock index and the performance of gold prices rising to all-time highs. The Bloomberg Global Bond Index rose nearly 2% during the same period. Analysts point to the risk of the U.S. government handling confiscated Bitcoin (whose address currently holds about $12 billion worth of cryptocurrency) as one of the challenges facing digital assets. According to an analysis report by Arkham Intelligence, on-chain data shows that the United States transferred $600 million in confiscated Bitcoin to a wallet on an exchange operated by Coinbase Global Inc. last week. Khushboo Khullar, a venture partner at Lightning Ventures, which invests in Bitcoin-related companies, said that the U.S. government's possible sale of Bitcoin "has led to this temporary downward price pressure, but we don't expect the impact to last long."

The first phase of the Bitcoin sidechain MVC developer incentive program will end within 7 days

On August 20, the first phase of the Bitcoin sidechain MVC (full name MicrovisionChain) developer incentive program announced that the application will end on August 27. This event will reward a total of 250,000 SPACEs and provide auxiliary SDKs developed on the Bitcoin sidechain. MVC is a UTXO model of a layer of smart contract public chain, designed to solve Bitcoin's congestion problem, become an ideal sidechain for Bitcoin, and support the development of large-scale Web3 applications. SPACE is the MVC mainnet token and gas, with the highest single-day increase this week reaching 109.9%, and the current price is $1.46.

Zenrock plans to launch decentralized custody services and packaged Bitcoin zenBTC

Golden Finance reported that DeFi startup Zenrock plans to launch decentralized custody services. Zenrock was reorganized after Qredo was acquired by 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners. It aims to decentralize private key management through decentralized multi-party computing (MPC) wallets to avoid single point failure risks. Zenrock is currently in the testnet stage and plans to be officially launched this year. The company also announced the launch of a decentralized Bitcoin token zenBTC.

Franklin Templeton CEO criticizes traditional finance for underestimating the scale of Bitcoin

Golden Finance reported that Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson criticized traditional finance for underestimating the scale of Bitcoin at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium. She pointed out that Bitcoin processed more than $36.6 trillion in transactions in 2023, twice the sum of Mastercard and Visa. Johnson believes that the traditional financial sector knows almost nothing about Bitcoin and its huge transaction volume. Johnson said she spends 30% of her time every day researching disruptive technologies, especially digital assets and artificial intelligence. She emphasized that although Mastercard and Visa are actively exploring blockchain technology, they still do not fully realize the scale of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Under Johnson's leadership, Franklin Templeton has quickly become a leader in traditional financial asset management. In 2021, the company launched the OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX), the first fund to record transactions using a public blockchain. Recently, Franklin Templeton submitted a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a new exchange-traded fund (EZPZ) to expose investors to a variety of digital assets, and Coinbase will be responsible for the custody of the fund.

Babylon's current delayed Bitcoin pledge volume is about 760 BTC

Golden Finance reported that according to the Babylon Bitcoin pledge mainnet information, the current Babylon delayed Bitcoin pledge volume (PendingStake) has reached 760 BTC, and the pledge volume has not yet been publicly confirmed. According to previous news, the upper limit of Babylon's first phase of staking is 1,000 BTC.

Bitcoin network transaction fees soared to 774 satoshis/byte

Golden Finance reported that mempool.space data showed that Bitcoin network transaction fees have now soared to 774 satoshis/byte, with medium priority temporarily reported at 1032 satoshis/byte and high priority temporarily reported at 1231 satoshis/byte.

Babylon has launched the Bitcoin staking mainnet

Golden Finance reported that Babylon has launched the Bitcoin staking mainnet, and users can participate in the first phase of the Babylon Bitcoin staking mainnet. The launch of the Babylon Bitcoin staking mainnet has brought a third local use case for Bitcoin assets in addition to value storage and simple payments: staking to protect the PoS network and earn rewards.

DCG: Bitcoin and Ethereum mini trusts have inflows exceeding $270 million and $220 million

Golden Finance reported that Grayscale's parent company DCG said that Grayscale has launched 9 new products this year, such as single asset trusts that track assets such as Bittensor, and Bitcoin and Ethereum mini trusts, which have inflows of more than $270 million and more than $220 million, respectively.

Ethereum

Analysis: Ethereum's daily average gas fee and daily destruction have both hit new lows

Golden Finance reported that CryptoQuant analyst EgyHash said that Ethereum's daily average gas fee was only 2.9 Gwei recently, a record low, and its daily average fee denominated in US dollars also hit a multi-year low of only $0.85. As a result, Ethereum's daily average destruction rate has also dropped to a historical low, with a daily destruction of 115 ETH. Despite a sharp drop in Ethereum gas fees and efficiency rates, its average daily transaction count has remained flat or increased significantly compared to the same period in the past two years. This decline may be related to the Dencun upgrade activated on Ethereum on March 13 this year. While low fees are good for users, they are not for investors, especially considering that a large part of Ethereum's use is moving to its L2 network and the potential problems this may cause, such as user and liquidity fragmentation. Despite the approval of Ethereum spot ETFs, ETH's price has not improved since the Dencun upgrade. During this period, ETH supply increased by more than 197,000 (worth more than $500 million), while its price fell by 35%.

Kaiko: The growing supply of Ethereum may curb potential price increases in the short term

Golden Finance reported that Kaiko Research, a cryptocurrency analysis company, released a report that Ethereum's gas fee recently hit a five-year low due to increased Layer 2 activity and the Dencun upgrade in March that reduced Layer 2 transaction fees. This fee reduction has an important impact on Ethereum, as lower fees mean less ETH is destroyed, leading to an increase in token supply. Since April, the total supply of ETH has continued to rise. Despite demand drivers such as the spot Ethereum ETF, the growing supply may curb potential price increases in the short term.

The US spot Ethereum ETF had a net outflow of $13.5 million yesterday

Golden Finance reported that according to Trader T monitoring, the US spot Ethereum ETF had a net outflow of $13.5 million yesterday.

Kaiko Report: Ethereum Gas Fee Record Low Will Have an Impact on Prices and Inflation

Golden Finance reported that on August 19, industry research firm Kaiko reported that Ethereum's Gas Fee has recently fallen to its lowest level in five years. According to Etherscan's Gas Tracker, the average network fee for Ethereum's Layer 1 is currently 2.15 Gwei or just $0.13, the lowest level since 2019. Kaiko reports that lower fees could have an impact on Ethereum issuance and the amount consumed when using gas. If the supply is no longer deflationary, this could also have an impact on the price. Meanwhile, ETH's total supply has increased since April due to falling network fees and a lower base fee burn rate following the launch of EIP-1559. According to ultrasound.money, ETH supply has increased by 0.2% since the beginning of April, from 120.063 million to around 120.286 million. This means that in the past four months, an additional 223,000 ETH has been added, which is worth about $591 million at current spot prices. On a weekly basis, the report says, ETH supply is increasing by 0.71% per year. At the current rate of consumption, this means an increase of about 16,500 ETH per week.

BNB Chain: Adapted to Ethereum client Erigon 3 and integrated with Parlia consensus protocol

On August 23, according to the official announcement, BNBChain announced that it had successfully adapted and integrated the Parlia consensus protocol into the Ethereum client Erigon 3. Parlia is the consensus mechanism used by BNBChain (BSC), which combines the characteristics of DPoS and PoA. BNB holders elect validators to achieve faster block times and lower transaction costs. The integration of Erigon 3 and Parlia will bring performance improvements to users. On the BSC testnet (Chapel), Erigon 3 showed significant performance improvements: disk usage was reduced by 50%, and synchronization time was reduced from one week to about 10 hours. BNBChain plans to release the mainnet version around September 30, 2024, and will continue to support Erigon 2 for a period of time to ensure a smooth transition. Currently, the Erigon 3 Alpha2 version is online on the test network, and users can test and provide feedback.

1confirmation: Ethereum's market value may exceed Bitcoin in the next five years

Golden Finance reported that the cryptocurrency investment institution 1confirmation released its LP letter for the second quarter of 2024. Founder Nick Tomaino stated in the letter that Ethereum's market value will exceed Bitcoin in the next five years. Currently, Bitcoin's market value is 4 times that of Ethereum. Both will continue to grow, but Ethereum will eventually surpass Bitcoin. Nick Tomaino explained that Bitcoin has a clear narrative (digital gold), and institutions have now accepted that narrative. Ethereum has been the most influential blockchain in the crypto space for the past five years, but people (outside the circle) know very little about Ethereum. Ethereum is scarce, generates income, and has real use cases. Because its market value is now significantly smaller than Bitcoin, Wall Street can own more. Wall Street is expected to continue to buy and vigorously promote Ethereum to the world in the next few years.

Other projects

Trump's second son: important announcements about crypto projects are coming soon

On August 21, Eric Trump, the second son of former US President Donald Trump and current executive vice president of the Trump Group, posted on social media, "Some important announcements about crypto projects are coming soon, very excited. Make sure you have joined our Telegram group." Previously reported, Donald Trump Jr. announced the opening of the Telegram channel "The DeFiant Ones" on the X platform to introduce the upcoming crypto projects.

Synthetic asset platform Kresko will close the project, users need to withdraw funds as soon as possible

On August 21, according to the official announcement, the synthetic asset platform Kresko will close the project. The announcement stated that the founder of the project has been facing serious health problems, which have worsened recently. After careful consideration and exploration of various alternatives, the team concluded that closing the project was the best course of action. The announcement reminded users to complete asset extraction and migration before September 10. Last November, the synthetic asset platform Kresko announced the completion of a $1.8 million strategic round of financing, led by Electric Capital and Zero Age Ventures, with participation from WAGMI Ventures, GTS Ventures, OakGrove Ventures, MH Ventures and Gui Laliberte.

Modular data preprocessing project DIN completed $4 million in financing, with Manta and others participating

Golden Finance reported that the modular data preprocessing project DIN completed $4 million in financing, with Manta, Moonbeam, Ankr, MaxxCapital and others participating. This round of financing brings its total financing to $8 million.

AO Ecosystem Project Apus Network Launches Sam Digital Twin Dataset Competition Pool

On August 20, the AO Ecosystem Project Apus Network announced the launch of the Sam Digital Twin Dataset Competition Pool, which will last until August 29, to help Sam, the founder of Arweave and AO, build a comprehensive digital twin. AI enthusiasts can participate in the competition by submitting high-quality datasets and tracking the rankings in real time. Participants also have the opportunity to receive incentives and demonstrate their skills through the platform. In addition, participants can also interact with advanced models based on these datasets through the Chat Playground feature, as if they were talking to Sam himself. Users can choose the highest-rated datasets on the leaderboard for the best interactive experience.

Polygon executives: 90% of L1/L2 BD teams will directly ask for airdrops from ecological projects

Golden Finance reported that Polygon Chief Information Security Officer Mudit Gupta wrote on X that people are panicking about EigenLabs employees asking for airdrops from ecological sub-projects, but in fact 90% of Layer1/Layer2BD teams will directly ask for shares or airdrops in the name of consultants. If any reporter really wants to investigate this matter, just start a fake new DEX and contact different Layer1/Layer2 BD teams to get a personal experience.

Reputation tracking project Intuition announced the launch of the Beta version of the Universal Information Protocol and released a white paper

On August 21, according to the Intuition team, Intuition, a project designed to track network trust and reputation, launched the Beta version of its Universal Information Protocol and released a white paper. The protocol provides tools for recording, tracking and analyzing insights, which is particularly timely as the political betting market becomes a key election indicator. Intuition's core primitives (such as Atoms, Triples, Signals, Reality Tunnels) strengthen code security and reduce the possibility of unsafe online interactions, thereby reducing reliance on trust assumptions and avoiding data leaks and downtime. Previously reported, decentralized identity startup Intuition completed $4 million in financing

Hong Kong International New Economy Research Institute: The virtual asset market will usher in a reshuffle, and some non-compliant U merchants and project parties may withdraw

Golden Finance reported that Fu Rao, executive director of the Hong Kong International New Economy Research Institute, wrote an article in Ta Kung Pao entitled "Improving the Healthy Development of the Virtual Asset Supervision Industry", pointing out that the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China jointly issued an interpretation on several issues concerning the application of laws in handling criminal money laundering cases, which clearly listed virtual asset transactions as one of the ways of money laundering, which will have the following impacts on the virtual asset industry: 1) Industry cooperation has increased. The introduction of regulations means that practitioners need to pay more attention to compliance issues and increase compliance investment to ensure that their business is legal and compliant. The market will usher in a reshuffle, and some non-compliant U merchants and project parties may exit the market, and the industry concentration will further increase. 2) Strengthen investor education. The introduction of regulations will prompt investors to pay more attention to the risks of virtual assets and improve investors' risk identification capabilities. 3) Industry supervision is gradually improved. The release of this judicial interpretation will help regulatory authorities to more effectively supervise the virtual asset industry and promote the healthy development of the industry. As Hong Kong vigorously develops the virtual asset economy, the mainland will first respond to the serious crimes that virtual assets are most likely to cause. In this context, U merchants and ordinary investors should raise their legal awareness, ensure transaction compliance, and avoid legal risks.

Web3 music project MetaBeat signed a $2 million financing memorandum of understanding with Burrito Wallet and Liquid Chang

Golden Finance reported that Web3 music project MetaBeat signed a $2 million financing memorandum of understanding with Burrito Wallet (Bithumb Wallet) and Liquid Chang. The new funds are intended to support MetaBeat's launch of Fan-to-Earn business based on NFT and SocialFi functions. It is reported that Burrito Wallet will provide it with security management services for NFT and other digital assets.