MakerDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) serving the popular DeFi lending protocol Maker, has announced an upcoming deployment schedule on the decentralized zero-knowledge (ZK) Ethereum rollup, StarkNet. Expected to become fully operational in the third quarter of this year as identified in the protocol's roadmap, the integration will seek to enhance the multichain capabilities of their dollar-pegged stablecoin DAI, and associated Maker Vaults function, by striving to reduce transactional cost and throughput speed on the network. The move is largely consistent with their overarching multichain strategy first witnessed via the launch of DAI token bridges on both Optimism and Arbitrum …

The native token prices from multiple projects that employ Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Optimism have spiked around 20% amid rumors that the network will soon launch a token and airdrop it to the community. Optimism is a layer-2 scaling solution that utilizes Optimistic Rollups to process a high amount of transactions off of the Ethereum blockchain. The project touts that it can operate smart contracts five- to 500-times cheaper than Ethereum’s layer 1. According to DefiLlama, the platform currently accounts for $496.47 million worth of total value locked (TVL) from 30 different projects that use it to scale such as …

Hybrid computing platform Boba Network has joined the “crypto unicorn” rankings after raising $45 million in Series A funding, underscoring the investment appeal of Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions. The funding round had participation from several crypto-focused venture funds including Infinite Capital, Hypersphere, 10X Capital, Hack VC, GBV, Sanctor Capital, Shima Capital, Kinetic Capital, IOST and ROK Capital. Contributions also came from the Will Smith-led Dreamers VC, Paris Hilton’s M13 and several crypto industry founders from projects such as Origin Protocol, The Graph, FEI Labs and exchange giants Crypto.com and Huobi. The Series A valued Boba Network at $1.5 billion, giving …

Investors tend to not complain about a price rally, except when the chart presents steep downside risks. For example, analyzing Ether's (ETH) current price chart could lead one to conclude that the ascending channel since March 15 is too aggressive. Thus, it is only natural for traders to fear that losing the $3,340 support could lead to a retest of the $3,100 level or a 12% correction down to $3,000. Of course this largely depends on how traders are positioned, along with the Ethereum network's on-chain metrics. For starters, the Ethereum network’s total value locked (TVL) peaked at ETH 32.8 …

Volatility is back in full force in the cryptocurrency market and the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has undergone several $1,000 swings over the past few days and select altcoins have seen their prices surge to new highs after major announcements. The big winners on March 31 include protocols that focus on interoperability between the major blockchain networks as well as projects that are looking to release major updates in the near future. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were SKALE Network (SKL), IOST and Celer Network (CELR). SKALE Network prepares …

Filling multiple needs within the cryptocurrency community is one way a project can set itself apart from the competition and new attract users and liquidity to its ecosystem. Loopring aims to do exactly this by aiming to offer a EVM-based solution with low fees where DeFi and NFT developers and investors can transact. The layer-two (L2) scaling solution utilizes zk-Rollups to provide fast, low-cost transactions and the project has been gaining traction throughout the month of March. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of LRC gained 57% between March 21 and March 23 as its …

Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming was one of the hottest sectors in the cryptocurrency market in 2021 and based off the recent moves of Yuga Labs and Bored Ape Yacht Club, the gaming industry could continue to be a winner in 2022. Axie Infinity was the first game to really capture widespread attention and highlight the possibilities of what P2E had to offer and it is continuing to lead the way in 2022 as the protocol prepares for its next major launch. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of AXS increased 56.5% over the past ten days …

GameStop has confirmed its integration with Loopring (LRC), an Ethereum Layer 2 zkRollup protocol designed for powering decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, into their highly anticipated NFT marketplace. Adam Browman, Loopring’s Head of Growth, announced on Medium on Wednesday that the beta version of GameStop's marketplace had gone live. The future of #NFTs are here + they're powered by #Ethereum's second layer Loopring L2 x @GameStop Power to the players. Power to the creators Power to the collectors.#L222https://t.co/0gdvKLivfp — Loopring‍☠️ (@loopringorg) March 23, 2022 According to Browman, GameStop, in partnership with Loopring L2, aims to provide "fast, cheap and secure" access to …

Popular Ethereum scaling solution Optimism has announced a $150 million Series B funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Paradigm at a total valuation of $1.65 billion. According to a blog post from Optimism, the Layer 2 (L2) solution has saved users of the Ethereum network over $1 billion in gas fees. The funding will be used to expand the Optimism team and go towards working on reducing network fees even further. Fees on the Optimism network were reduced by a cumulative 30% last year, and now the team is contributing work towards an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-4844) for …

Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, announced earlier on Tuesday that it will be temporarily pausing deposits and withdrawals for Polygon (MATIC) Network. The announcement came in the wake of the Polygon network’s outage since March 11 after a network upgrade. The crypto exchange noted that it would reopen the deposit and withdrawal features once the network becomes stable. Polygon network is a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution that boasts millions of users and an evolving ecosystem. The network underwent an essential upgrade on one of the three layers on March 11, but due to a suspected bug, …

Non-fungible token (NFT) projects have been hard hit by the price decline across the cryptocurrency ecosystem and the current bearish conditions have spared few tokens from a price collapse. One project that is attempting to get back on solid footing is Immutable X (IMX), an NFT-focused layer-2 (L2) scaling solution for the Ethereum (ETH) network designed to offer near-instant transactions and zero gas fees for minting and trading. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of IMX has climbed 69.6% since hitting a low of $1.09 on March 7 to hit a daily high of $1.86 …

Recently, media outlet Rekt.news made striking accusations about Fantom Opera, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution, after the foundation’s technical adviser Andre Cronje and senior solutions architect Anton Nell announced they were leaving the crypto space entirely. Almost immediately, concerns from the community arose after Nell tweeted, “There are around ~25 apps and services that we are terminating on 03 April 2022.” In the now-deleted Rekt article, it alleged the following: “Fantom, Solidly, SpookySwap, Abracadabra, Geist: multiple projects all entwined into a system designed to extract maximum value for a small set of insiders who are now steadily exiting the stage.” …