TLDR Crypto 2024-02-09

Kraken has reportedly secured regulatory approval from the Dutch Central Bank to conduct its operations in the Netherlands. This is yet another expansion for Kraken into the EU. It follows the firm's previous registrations in Spain, Italy, and Ireland and aligns with the forthcoming implementation of the EU's MiCA regulation.

Deus X Capital has collaborated with Bridgetower Capital to launch a new self-funded $250 million digital asset platform based in Abu Dhabi. The venture, Bridgetower Middle East, aims to support the growth of the digital and blockchain assets sector across the UAE and Middle East more widely. The company will offer services such as institutional staking, private equity, venture building, and a customizable web3 commerce platform to renowned brands. There are also plans for a potential public listing in Abu Dhabi.

Frax Finance is launching Fraxtal, an L2 blockchain that aims to offer rewards utilizing its unique Flox system. Users who stake veFXS using this new system will receive $FXTL points in an upcoming airdrop. As a part of this rollout, Fraxtal is partnering with established web3 infrastructure projects, promising a user-friendly, low-cost experience.

Herodotus and StarkWare recently unveiled the Cairo Verifier, a system aimed at verifying cryptographic proofs on L2s instead of the Ethereum mainnet. The system was designed to reduce verification costs, improve latency issues, and support L3 application deployment on Starknet. The Cairo Verifier extends STARK's security to L3s, offering the flexibility to customize elements like hash functions and consensus mechanisms for specific needs.

This article discusses a bug that led to nine slots missing in the bloXroute max profit relay system, using the incident to examine the role of relays and how enshrined proposer-builder separation fits into such scenarios. ePBS wouldn't have prevented the bug and in the worst cases, it could revert back to the existing trust model. The best-case scenario for ePBS facilitates faster and trustless proposer payment.

The concept of combining blockchain, AI, and gaming is gaining traction, resulting in novel game designs and gameplay experiences. This thread details how games use AI agents for competitive gaming and token gathering for users. Upstreet AI offers a virtual world with user-deployable AI agents and procedural questing. Modulus Labs used the Leela chess engine in cooperative gameplay. The intersection of these three technologies opens an unexplored design space that will revolutionize gaming.

Eigenlayer’s recent traction has sparked a fresh debate over a phenomenon called rehypothecation. The Eigenlayer platform aims to help other applications leverage the security of Ethereum rather than having to bootstrap their own, raising concerns about altering Ethereum's consensus layer. This post makes the case for a collaboration between Eigenlayer and Rocket Pool, a decentralized Ethereum Proof of Stake pool, to mitigate any risk to the protocol.

The Bitcoin Power Law, a predictive model for mapping out Bitcoin's price trajectory was developed by former physics professor Giovanni Santostasi. The model suggests a consistent pattern of growth, projecting a price of $210,000 in January 2026 and a long-term price of $1 million by 2033. Critics warn about models like this that create unrealistic investor expectations as financial markets are inherently unpredictable.

People often refer to Pudgy Penguins as the founders’ PFP, and it turns out it kind of is. This thread compiles a list of high-profile founders, VCs, and execs rocking Pudgy Penguin PFPs.

ENS is reportedly prioritizing R&D for Ethereum L2 solutions, debating between using existing networks like Optimism or launching its own "identity layer" for enhanced user privacy.

This post talks about how throughout history, individual investors have aligned around common trades or strategies, causing capital to pour into those strategies at unprecedented levels, with examples from Gamestop, Axie Infinity, and the Japanese carry trade

Eigenlayer has picked up quite a bit of momentum as of late. This thread makes a bullish case for a restaking protocol on top of Solana.