Zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) chain, Manta Pacific, reveals the reward behind their Lucky Boxes, a set of NFTs representing a portion of the future MANTA airdrop. Telegram trading bot, Unibot, expands their reach into Solana and finally, PancakeSwap cuts total token supply, in a move towards long term sustainable growth.

Overview

Total Value Locked (TVL) across all chains climbed once again for the second week in a row, as the markets pushed forward leading up the BTC ETF approval. Notable outperformers include newly launched L2, ZKFair, and zkEVM chain, Manta Pacific, which saw jumps due to airdrop related campaigns this week.

Welcome to Alpha Central

Immutable CTO, Alex Conelly dives into the current state of the zkEVM space, and the road forward.

TL;DR:

• Many zkEVMs launched this year, including Scroll, Polygon zkEVM, Linea and zkSync.

• Chains such as Immutable and Polygon PoS are also looking to deploy a zkEVM in the near future as well

• However, zkEVMs still have a long way to go with the lack standardized interfaces between clients and provers, exclusively single sequencer model, fragmentation of liquidity across zkEVMs among other issues.

Ethereum: USDC+ by Reserve Protocol

Reserve Protocol partners up with StakeDAO to unveil USDC+, an over-collateralized basket of yield-bearing USDC tokens, consisting of yield-bearing tokens from Compound, Morpho Labs and Flux in equal portions. USDC+ currency has an expected yield of ~5.04%.

Other Product Launches and Updates

• Multi-chain trading terminal interface, Thunder Terminal, was exploited for ~200K, with 114 wallets affected by the hack. The protocol has since refunded affected wallets and stepped up security measures in response.

• Lending platform, Sturdy Finance, announces Sturdy Surge, an incentive program to kick off on 16th January, with $800K in incentives and 750K STRDY tokens to be distributed over 120 days.

L2s: Manta Pacific Boxes Trigger NFT Frenzy

Manta Pacific’s Lucky Boxes can now be opened, with each box revealing an NFT. The NFT will be one of six possible rarities. Users with at least one of all six NFTs will also be able to combine them into “The First Modular L2 “ NFT, which will unlock special rewards at a later date.

Synthetix-backed perpetuals decentralized exchange (DEX), Infinex, officially launched on Coinbase L2, Base, this week. Users will be selected from the waitlist to be part of the Infinex 13, the first users on Infinex Alpha.

Other Product Launches and Updates

• zkEVM chain, zkSync, suffers an outage again due to an automated safety procedure, sending the network down for two hours. No funds were lost and the chain is back to regular operation again.

• Newly launched zero-knowledge rollup, ZKFair, goes into Fair Mode, supporting 100% fair launch projects on the chain, which will launch at a low valuation (~1m). This move seeks to protect the ZKFair community and support the steady growth of the ecosystem.

• Arbitrum-based money market platform, Dolomite, launches vote-enabled ARB (vARB), allowing users to deposit ARB tokens as collateral while still holding their voting rights in Arbitrum governance.

• Mantle-based DEX, Merchant Moe, opens bridging of JOE tokens and JOE staking on their platform, in preparation for the upcoming MOE airdrop. Merchant Moe is a franchise of popular DEX, Trader Joe.

• OkuTrade brings Uniswap V3 to zkEVM chain, Scroll. OkuTrade is a frontend powered by Uniswap V3, with more advanced DEX features such as limit orders, order book and improved analytics support.

Solana: Unibot, Now on Solana

Ethereum Telegram trading bot, Unibot, lands on Solana with a custom built solution for the chain. Unibot on Solana integrates DEX aggregator, Jupiter Exchange, and data aggregator, Birdeye, to provide the best experience to traders.

Solana liquid staking protocol, SolBlaze, announces the upcoming halving of BLZE token emissions for both BLZE airdrops to SolBlaze stakers and for token emissions. The halving is part of the original BLZE tokenomics model.

BItcoin-Ethereum bridge, Multibit, sets its sights on Solana, expanding its offering to bridge assets between Solana and Bitcoin, with plans to enable bridging of DAII, a Bitcoin-based stablecoin across the two chains.

Solana EVM layer, Neon EVM, announces Neon Points, a point system to track contributions by users to the project. Points will be tracked via Discord and will be awarded for three types of contributions: creating, engaging and participating.

Binance Smart Chain: PancakeSwap Supply Cut

Binance Smart Chain (BSC) top DEX, PancakeSwap, passes a governance proposal to cut the total supply of the CAKE token from 750m to 450m.

Data solution, Rido, launches the BNBChain Attestation Service (BAS), allowing users to assert ownership of their attestations via BNB Greenfield, the chain’s storage solution. Additionally, BAS assists with on and off-chain verification and ensures data authenticity.

BSC money market platform, Venus Protocol, teases an upcoming expansion to Ethereum.

Cosmos: Sei Liquid Staking Live

Cosmos-based L1, Sei, sees liquid staking solution, Kryptonite, go live on mainnet, with the application closing in on $500K in assets staked within four days of its launch. Staking of SEI with Kryptonite also allows the minting of kUSD tokens at a 200% collateralization ratio for use in other applications.

Another Week, Another Airdrop

ZKFair DEX, Sideswap, announces plans for an airdrop of 100% of their token supply of one billion tokens to traders, liquidity providers, ZKF token holders, early contributors and more.

Tweet of the Week

Pentoshi with words of wisdom on securing returns as the market goes into a frenzy moving into the anticipated BTC ETF approval announcement.

Stay updated on your favorite projects and stay tuned for next week’s edition, and keep supporting your favorite projects, degens!