Author: NBTC

Drop Protocol raises $4M to transform Interchain assets with liquid staking, enabling users to unlock liquidity and earn rewards. With 12,000+ users and $20M in DeFi, Drop’s dAssets auto-compound staking rewards, turning static assets into productive ones. Drop’s partnership with Lido Finance boosts liquidity access, while $dTIA’s launch aims to expand innovative staking opportunities. Drop Protocol has raised $4 million in seed funding, a move that is set to bolster its mission of transforming static Interchain assets into streams of opportunity. The funding round, led by CoinFund and supported by CMS Holdings, Anagram, and other key investors, signifies a major…

Today, enjoy the Lightspeed newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. Subscribe to the Lightspeed newsletter. Crypto’s chattering class has been beefing over transactions per second (TPS) lately, a metric that’s often used in the abstract to demonstrate a blockchain’s throughput. Solana boasts a higher TPS than its main rival, Ethereum. The most recent social media go-round was ignited by the news that Firedancer, a high-performance client being developed by Jump Crypto and meant to push Solana’s TPS lead even further, had entered its testnet phase. Jump chief scientist Kevin Bowers said in a Solana…

Off the Grid is the talk of the gaming world right now—but can it stay on top? Last week, the battle royale game (launched in early access) quickly became the top free title on the Epic Games Store, with 148,000 viewers watching the countless streamers playing it on Twitch. Developed by Gunzilla Games, players are dropped into a reality show-style online shooter experience, kitted out with robotic limbs that give them powerful abilities. What many players don’t know, however, is that Off the Grid is actually an Avalanche-based crypto game. In its current early access state, the crypto elements have…

Imagine a highway: The more lanes you have, the more cars can travel simultaneously without creating a traffic jam. For a blockchain network, a high-throughput sequencer acts to widen that highway — allowing far more data and complex operations to flow through smoothly. This is especially important for applications such as onchain games, demanding DeFi protocols and social apps, where large volumes of transactions and interactions need to be processed without delay. Sequencer throughput determines how much computational work a blockchain can process in a given time, directly impacting the scalability and efficiency of dapps. Higher throughput allows the network…

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has emerged as one of the most significant drivers of cryptocurrency ownership in recent years. As more users explore decentralized platforms for lending, borrowing, and earning interest on their crypto assets, DeFi is reshaping how people interact with financial systems. The appeal of decentralized, peer-to-peer transactions without traditional intermediaries like banks has attracted millions to the crypto space, fueling a surge in crypto ownership worldwide. According to The Block, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols surpassed $200 billion in 2021, marking a notable shift in how individuals manage their assets. DeFi and the Democratization of…

While Blockchain has been around for more than 14 years, to date its application on a mass scale has still been limited, this is why DRIFE with its first decentralized ride-hailing platform has gone live in Dubai UAE, to bring blockchain enabled applications to the masses. Built on Sui Blockchain, DRIFE has gone live in Dubai with its pilot launch. The blockchain-enabled ride-hailing applications received its license earlier this year, two years after it began operations in India. Cryptopolitan interviewed Firdosh Sheikh, founder and CEO of DRIFE, to learn more about how DRIFE is growing in the MENA region and…

As Bitcoin (BTC) approaches the $60,000 level, Ki Young Ju, CEO of cryptocurrency analytics firm CryptoQuant, shared his views on the cost-based levels at which various types of investors are purchasing Bitcoin. When Ju first released this data, Bitcoin was trading at $57,000. Now, with Bitcoin at $60,000, the average profitability for these investor groups has changed: New Custody Wallets/ETFs: Bought at $62k, currently down -3%. Binance Investors: They entered at $55,000 and are currently +9% profitable. Mining Companies: Bought BTC at $43k, currently seeing +40% gains. Old Whales: Bought at $27k and made a significant +122% profit. Meanwhile, broader…

The derivatives liquidity protocol Synthetix (SNX) witnessed more development activity than any other project in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector in the past 30 days, according to the crypto analytics firm Santiment. Synthetix aims to serve as a backend liquidity tool for user-facing DeFi projects, according to the protocol’s whitepaper. Santiment notes that Synthetix clocked 264.57 notable GitHub events in the past 30 days, compared to 218.33 events for the second-most-developed project, the decentralized exchange (DEX) dYdX. A distant third on the analytics firm’s list is Lido DAO, a liquid staking service for the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem. The project registered…

Helium Mobile, a decentralized wireless mobile provider, has partnered with the University of Southern California as a sponsor of the institution’s teams, the USC Trojans. Blockchain-powered Helium Mobile disclosed the sponsorship deal in an announcement on Sept. 26. The Helium Network (HNT) related platform said the partnership with the USC Trojans will include stadium branding, giveaways, and fan engagement. Fan experience According to Helium, the new partnership will feature branding and activities during the university’s football and basketball teams’ home games for the 2024-25 season. The partnership will also target fan experiences, giving USC Trojans supporters a chance to learn…

In today’s fast-paced financial world, access to real-time, high-quality data has become a game-changer for investors at all levels. OpenBB’s mission to democratize advanced market data and make it accessible to everyone aligns seamlessly with the groundbreaking efforts of Pyth Network. To explore how Pyth is powering OpenBB’s real-time data feeds and transforming the investment landscape, we sat down with Michael Cahill, CEO of Douro Labs and a core contributor to Pyth Network. In this interview, Cahill shares insights on the partnership with OpenBB, the role of Pyth in leveling the playing field for non-institutional investors, and the future of…