The Protocol: Sony Launches Blockchain to Controversy
Also: Bubblemaps roadmap; Babylon interoperability
Tech
Babylon Labs Brings New Momentum to Bitcoin ZK Tech Through Bridge to Cosmos Chains
Babylon, developer of the largest BTC staking protocol, is teaming up with Bitcoin developers Fiamma to build a trust-minimized bridge using BitVM2
The Protocol: Hyperliquid Responds to Decentralization Criticism
Also: Ripple’s Chainlink deal; Pyth partners with Revolut
Arbitrum Awards Biggest-Ever Foundation Grant to Lotte, the South Korean Megacorp
Lotte’s Caliverse, an AI-driven entertainment experience, is coming to the layer-2 network, allowing web3 users to pay for services with crypto.
‘DeFi on Bitcoin’ Gets a Boost as BOB L2 Integrates $6B BTC Staking Protocol Babylon
The integration allows BOB, a “hybrid L2,” to use Bitcoin as its anchor chain where transactions with assets from other chains can be irreversibly recorded.
Avalanche Blockchain’s Largest-Ever Upgrade, ‘Avalanche9000,’ Is Live
The technical changes are designed to attract developers to the ecosystem and let them create their own customized blockchains, known as subnets.
Solana Was the Biggest Draw for New Crypto Developers in 2024: Electric Capital
Ethereum remained the blockchain with the most devs, and the overall population of software builders in crypto was flat, the VC firm said in its annual survey.
The Protocol: A Quantum Threat to Bitcoin?
Also: An Ethereum dev’s defection to Solana; Polygon’s big proving-system flex; crypto’s most influential
Shayne Coplan: He Took Prediction Markets Mainstream
In so doing, Polymarket’s founder demonstrated a real-world consumer use case for crypto, earning him a spot on CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2024 list.
Illia Polosukhin: A Crypto+AI Pioneer
The co-founder of NEAR is working to create a full ecosystem for decentralized AI.