The U.S. Senate has voted to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s controversial SAB 121, which imposes regulatory burdens on digital asset custodians. The resolution also passed in the House and now faces a veto threat from President Joe Biden. Last week, the White House issued a statement: “If the President were presented with […]
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Injective Votes On Major Upgrade To Make INJ Even More Deflationary: Will Prices Recover?
Injective Protocol, a blockchain for decentralized finance (DeFi) and derivatives trading, is voting on a proposal to significantly reshape the platform’s tokenomics and introduce a new era dubbed Injective 3.0.
According to Injective, through a post on April 19, the proposal is now open for voting via the Injective Hub. For the next four days, stakers and validators are free to participate.
Community Voting On Injective 3.0
Over the months since launching in 2023, Injective caught the crypto community’s attention. The team aims to launch a platform for users to launch DeFi-focused protocols in a low-cost, scalable, and yet Ethereum-compatible environment. Though INJ, the native currency of the platform, remains one of the top performers, changes introduced by Injective 3.0 will likely push prices even higher.
According to developers, Injective 3.0 aims to make INJ a deflationary asset. A big part of this will be to reduce token minting by controlling the rate of token creation. If the community approves what’s laid out in the proposal, the team will change on-chain parameters to slow down token minting.
At the same time, Injective 3.0 plans to make INJ’s inflation rate more responsive to staking. Under this model, inflation will slow down as more INJ is locked away via staking, making the coin scarcer.
Proposers predict the network to be more robust and secure if INJ becomes more deflationary. Usually, token prices of scarce assets tend to be higher. However, it should be noted that changes to tokenomics don’t immediately lead to favorable price repricing. For prices to soar, there must be utility, driven mainly by community interest.
Millions Of INJ Burned, Will Prices Break ?
Injective 2.0 is currently live following its activation in August 2023. Under the current regime, there is a token auction burn, where decentralized applications (dapps) running on the platform are free to participate in token burning. According to the Injective Protocol, over 5.9 million INJ have been withdrawn.
So far, INJ remains under pressure, sliding down, shedding 50% from March 2024 highs. The coin has been moving horizontally in the past few trading sessions. However, it is under immense selling and within the April 12 bear bar.
The level at is a crucial resistance level. Conversely, if INJ prices dip below this week’s lows at , the coin will slip towards April 13 lows of around .
Uniswap Governance Votes Unanimously to Empower UNI Holders With Protocol Fee Rewards
In a landmark governance decision, Uniswap’s community has voted unanimously in favor of a proposal to reward UNI token holders who stake and delegate their tokens. The upgrade, aimed at revitalizing the protocol’s decision-making process, has garnered overwhelming support with over 10 million UNI tokens pledged in its favor. Historic Vote to Reward UNI Holders […]
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Stellar Development Foundation Votes to Delay Protocol 20 Upgrade Amid Bug Concerns
The Stellar Development Foundation wishes to put a hold on the upcoming Protocol 20 upgrade of the Stellar blockchain network, originally scheduled for January 30. This decision follows the discovery of a bug that could impact the Soroban smart contract transactions.
Stellar Development Foundation Wants to Hit Pause on Protocol 20 Upgrade Due to Critical Bug
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has announced a delay in the Protocol 20 upgrade of the Stellar blockchain, originally scheduled for January 30. The decision follows the discovery of a bug in Stellar Core v20.1.0, which could potentially impact Soroban transactions.
The SDF, in a blog post dated January 27, expressed its commitment to ensuring the network’s readiness for the upgrade, but also the importance of consensus within the ecosystem. “We are not an ecosystem of one,” the post read, emphasizing the collaborative nature of the decision-making process.
The bug, identified on January 25, affects fee-bumped Soroban transactions, potentially leading to incorrect handling of refunds. Soroban, a smart contract platform on Stellar, went live on a testnet in October 2022.
Tyler van der Hoeven, a core developer of Stellar, noted in a post on X that Protocol 20 would be a “phased rollout,” although the timeline for full implementation of Soroban smart contracts remains unspecified.
In light of the bug, the SDF has disarmed its validators to prevent them from voting for the upgrade. The foundation clarified that the decision to upgrade rests with the entire network of validators, not solely with the SDF. As of December 2023, there were 43 validator nodes, according to Stellarbeat.io.
The SDF stated, “No matter the outcome, we will continue to work to resolve the bug, and to engage in discussions with other validators in both public and private channels.”
Stellar, one of the oldest blockchain projects, primarily focuses on payments and asset tokenization. The addition of Ethereum-style smart contracts through Soroban is expected to significantly enhance the blockchain’s capabilities.
The SDF reassured the community that a fix for the bug is underway and should be available within two weeks. In the event of a postponement, the foundation will coordinate with validators to determine a new date for the Protocol 20 vote.
The Stellar community and developers are encouraged to stay informed through the Stellar Dev Discord and developer mailing lists. The SDF emphasized the importance of cooperation and consensus for the success of the upgrade, stating, “We are grateful that this ecosystem is willing to engage in important conversations like this.”
Do you think Stellar will become a popular place for smart contract developers? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
1inch DAO Makes DeFi History, Votes To Onboard Legal Counsel
In a historic move that sets a precedent for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), 1inch DAO, the entity behind the 1inch Network, has voted to secure “legal advisory services” from STORM Partners. Notably, this decision comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny on the crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) sectors.
1inch DAO Votes To Onboard STORM Partners For Legal Advisory Services
Following voting that ended on January 9–overwhelmingly supported by the 1inch community–holders decided to onboard STORM Partners. This marks a significant step forward in the DAO’s efforts to navigate the complex legal landscape and protect its members.
With STORM Partners on board, 1inch DAO becomes the first autonomous organization in the broader crypto ecosystem to access expert guidance on compliance, governance, and legal defense. Out of this landmark move, the DAO will receive expert legal advice.
As such, they will strive to operate within the confines of applicable laws and regulations in the United States and beyond.
This move is particularly noteworthy given the recent United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerns over the crypto industry and the DeFi sector. From lawsuits, the agency noted that individuals who engage in illegal activities, including offering unregistered securities, via a DAO could be sued individually.
To illustrate, following a lawsuit from the SEC, BarnBridge DAO agreed to stop selling what the agency said were “unregistered securities.” As part of the settlement, the DAO and its two founders, Tyler Ward and Troy Murray, agreed to pay .7 million in damages.
Lawsuits Have Devastated DAOs In The Past
By onboarding legal counsel, 1inch DAO proactively addresses these concerns. It also aims to protect community members against the bruises of the law.
The DAO said the decision was a “deliberate effort to balance preserving decentralization and addressing operational challenges.” Through STORM Partners, the DAO will have a framework and receive legal support, laying a path for others to follow.
This decision considers the adverse impact of a lawsuit from a government agency like the SEC. In June 2023, US District Judge William H. Orrick ruled in favor of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), agreeing that Ooki DAO issued unregistered commodities.
In a statement, the 1inchDAO new legal partner, STORM, stated the following, hinting at the services and the way they will attempt to protect the entity:
Our team will cover, among others, cross-jurisdiction regulatory compliance, contractual agreements, DAO governance framework, members’ liability, legal personality, asset protection, intellectual property, enforcement of rights and defence against external claims. Our legal representation, underpinned by community-guided Power of Attorney, is meant to ensure the DAO’s stability, efficiency and longevity.
Furthermore, by onboarding a legal advisor, the community aims to protect the DAO’s decentralization while maintaining “regulatory compliance.” It remains to be seen if other DAOs will follow suit and vote to elect a legal representative for their communities.
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LidoDAO Records Overwhelming 92% Votes To Exit The Solana Network
In a recently concluded voting program, it was revealed that over 92% of LidoDAO members (Lido token holders) of the decentralized liquid staking protocol Lido Finance, voted in favor of Lido ceasing its operations on the Solana Network.
LidoDAO Cut Ties With The Solana Network Following Community Vote
The proposal was first introduced by Lido on Solana’s peer-to-peer (P2P) team on September 5, due to financial limitations. Following the introduction, the voting program began on September 29, 2023, and was concluded a week later on October 6.
The P2P team in charge of the development of Lido on the Solana Network offered the community members two options in the voting program. These included the organization leaving the Solana Network, or providing funds to the organization to sustain its operations on the Solana Network.
In the proposal by the P2P team, Lido requested that LidoDAO provide ,000 per month to fund technical maintenance activities related to sunsetting operations on Solana over the following five months. The proposal also expressed worries about not being able to meet goals in the next year due to the challenging market conditions.
“Achieving even 2% of the market share in 2023-2024 seems improbable, particularly in the current Solana market, without any marketing assistance and given Lido DAO’s committee resolution 22 to discontinue all incentives in Solana,” the team’s proposal stated.
According to Yuri Mediakov, the P2P team invested a total of 0,000 in Lido on the Solana project to build and support the product in the past year but ended up making 0,000 in revenue, resulting in a net loss of 4,000. Therefore, in order to support the project for the next 12 months, the team would need around .5 million.
However, at the end of the vote, over 65 million (92.7%) of LDO tokens (voted by token holders) were in favor of sunsetting operations on Solana Network. Meanwhile, 5.1 million (7.2%) of LDO tokens voted in favor of providing funds to the organization to continue its operation on the Solana Network. The total number of Lido (LDO) tokens concluded in the vote was 70.1 million LDO tokens.
The organization highlighted in an excerpt that the decision was a necessary one to make despite how difficult it was:
Whilst this decision was difficult in the face of numerous strong relationships across the Solana ecosystem, it was deemed a necessity for the continued success of the broader Lido protocol ecosystem.
According to LidoDAO, the organization will cease accepting staking requests as of October 16, while users will have to unstake on Solana’s frontend by February 4, 2024. Failure to unstake before the deadline will result in unstaking through the Command Line Interface (CLI). In addition, Voluntary node operator off-boarding will commence on November 17, 2023.
Nonetheless, staked Solana (stSOL) token holders are still expected to receive rewards during the sunsetting process. However, Lido’s staking services are now solely supported on Ethereum and Polygon.
The P2P team has been working on Lido’s Solana project since acquiring it from Chorus One in March last year.
Terra Classic Votes to Halt USTC Minting; Community Eyes Future Re-Peg
Following a decisive vote by the Terra Classic community, an initiative to halt the creation of the previously termed stablecoin, terra usd (commonly referred to as UST or USTC), has been approved. Despite 40.56% opposition, 59.42% of the vote gave the nod for the software update.
Minting Freeze for USTC Approved
USTC, which sits at the 200th spot among 10,000+ crypto assets in the crypto economy, has seen its value jump by 4% in just the last day. As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 24, 2023, a single USTC is fetching .0127. Flashback to before the Terra ecosystem’s downturn in May 2022: this stablecoin held firm at a solid per unit, maintaining its peg to the USD for a long duration. On May 9, 2022, USTC drifted away from its peg to the U.S. dollar and the peg never returned.
While the Terra blockchain ecosystem shuddered, a community of users and developers continued to persevere. The Terra blockchain is known for facilitating trades between the once-stable coin and LUNA, a dynamic that sent LUNA’s supply skyrocketing into the trillions. The governance motion seeks to terminate the USTC minting process through software adjustments. A noteworthy 59.42% of participants endorsed the motion, aiming to close USTC minting and certain loopholes.
“This proposal would stop all minting and reminting of USTC without the approval of the Terra Classic community,” the proposal notes. “This proposal also stops loopholes such as converting xUST to mint USTC. We pay the Algo Quant team to re-peg USTC to USD, and the Terra Classic community is participating in the burning of the USTC supply, which also facilitates the re-peg.”
The community remains optimistic about re-anchoring USTC to the U.S. dollar, a topic that has been at the forefront of discussions over the past year. “This proposal protects the community and outside investors who are burning USTC helping to achieve the repeg,” the proposal emphasizes. While USTC stands at .012 per coin, LUNA‘s valuation is considerably lower. Despite a 5% boost against the dollar, LUNA is exchanged at just .00006206 per unit, plummeting 99.99999% from its peak of 9.18.
What do you think about the community vote to halt minting USTC? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Russian Parliament Votes on Bill Opening Door for Digital Ruble
Russian lawmakers have approved a draft law facilitating the implementation of the digital version of the national currency, the ruble. The legislation amends various other acts to introduce definitions and establish procedures related to the launch of the central bank digital currency.
Russian State Duma Passes Digital Ruble Draft Law on First Reading
The lower house of Russian parliament, the State Duma, has adopted in the first reading a bill introducing legislative changes necessary for the realization of the digital ruble project. Most notably, it seeks to amend the law “On the National Payment System.”
The latter will be supplemented with legal definitions related to the central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Bank of Russia. The authors also propose procedures for accessing the state-backed coin’s platform as well as for opening a digital wallet, RBC Crypto noted in a report.
According to the business daily Vedomosti, the draft suggests terms like “participant of the digital ruble platform” and “user of the digital ruble platform.” It assigns the role of sole operator to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) which will guarantee its safe functioning.
The bill also amends the law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control.” This particular revision secures the status of the digital ruble as a currency of the Russian Federation and defines the digital currencies of other central banks as foreign currencies.
The sponsors want to grant the CBR powers to process personal data without obtaining user consent and without notifying the body responsible for the protection of such information. This will be done through changes to the federal law “On Personal Data.”
The bill was submitted to the State Duma in late December by a group of deputies and senators led by the chair of the Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov. Now the house has tasked the committee to “take into account the need to ensure the protection of the rights of personal data subjects” when finalizing the document ahead of the second reading.
Alongside the digital ruble bill, the house also adopted amendments to the Civil Code that classify the CBDC as non-cash money and regulate other aspects such as inheritance. Proposals for further revisions of the drafts will be accepted by mid-April. Bank of Russia plans to start testing the digital ruble with real users and transactions on April 1 and aims for a full launch in 2024.
Do you think Russia will accelerate the introduction of the digital ruble amid sanctions and financial restrictions over the war in Ukraine? Share your expectations in the comments section below.
Venture Capital Firm Votes Against Uniswap Deploying On BNB Smart Chain
A16z, a venture capital that invests in crypto and web3 startups, has voted against Uniswap v3 being deployed on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC).
A16z Rejects Launching Uniswap V3 On BSC
BNB Smart Chain is a smart contracting platform developed by Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange leading in trading volumes and client count. BSC competes with Ethereum, the first network where Uniswap launched the first automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange in late 2018.
A16z is leading the line, rejecting Uniswap v3 from going live on BSC. The venture capital has voted with all their 15 million UNI, the governance token of the exchange.
Sources indicate that the crypto venture capital which is part of Andreessen Horowitz and has invested in Coinbase, OpenSea, Optimism, and other dApps and projects, couldn’t participate in the temperature check earlier on because of the custodial setup of their tokens.
Uniswap is the world’s largest DEX by total value locked (TVL). According to DeFiLlama, the DeFi protocol currently manages .96 billion and has deployed in several EVM-compatible blockchains, including Polygon. The exchange has also launched on some of Ethereum’s layer-2 platforms, including Optimism and Arbitrum.
Most Uniswap community members want the DEX to launch on the BSC before its Business Source License (BSL) ends in early April 2023.
If Hayden Adam’s protocol is to deploy on BSC, it would have to use the Wormhole Bridge. However, the primary concern is around the security of crypto bridges.
Wormhole was hacked for 5 million in 2022 and has reduced its maximum bounty program from million to .5 million. A16z is concerned about the security and decentralization of the Wormhole Bridge.
The DEX Should Be Proactive
OxPlasma Labs put forward the proposal for the world’s largest DEX to expand to BSC. The temperature check passed with 80% in favor of the deployment, with only 20% against this move.
Users are now voting on this proposal, and with just 3.26% currently participating, most support the idea of Uniswap launching on BSC.
Noteworthy supporters include Robert Leshner, the founder of Compound, who has voted for the idea with his 5.76 million UNI.
Others include GFX Labs, who said this deployment would strengthen the DEX, prevent “another vampire attack,” and reduce the chances of forking Uniswap v3 when the business license ends in early April 2023. GFX Labs insists that the DEX should be “proactive.”
GFX Labs voted in favor of @Uniswap proposal 31 to deploy @Uniswap V3 to BSC. With the BSL expiring on April 1st, Uniswap must be proactive in preventing another vampire attack. https://t.co/AbKaMrmXVv
— GFX Labs (@labsGFX) February 5, 2023
Celo Votes To Increase Minimum Gas Threshold
Celo, a mobile-focused smart contracting platform compatible with Ethereum’s virtual machine, is voting on a proposal to increase the network’s minimum gas threshold.
Voting for Celo Governance Proposal 0066 started today, Wednesday, January 18, and ends on Friday, January 27. As of the time of writing, the turnout stands at 2.6% of the total supply, with 6,840,826 CELO locked as votes.
Out of this, 6,840,116 CELO supports the proposal, 620 CELO is against the idea, and 90 CELO are voting to abstain. CELO is the native currency of the Celo proof-of-stake smart contracting platform based on the PBFT consensus mechanism.
The Celo Governance Proposal 0066
The proposal seeks to increase the minimum gas threshold to .001 for simple ERC-20 transactions. Unlike Ethereum, where gas fees must be paid in ETH only, in Celo, users can pay using ERC-20 currencies, not just CELO. Gas fees are paid to prevent Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.
Like Ethereum, the gas fee structure in Celo adopts the proposals under EIP-1559. As EIP-1559 stipulates, there must be a gas price minimum that applies to all Celo transactions. This minimum fee applies regardless of the validator processing the transaction. It also fluctuates depending on demand. Celo has clarified that should the proposal pass, only the base fee will be impacted.
Under the Celo Governance Proposal 0066, the validator rewards from the gas fee will not be affected. Celo added that though the base fee might increase slightly, network activity would remain the same because “gas prices are very low, transactions are virtually free.”
Celo Will Benefit
The proposer laid out the rationale of this proposal, saying that the cost of a transaction for the broader Celo ecosystem carries extra dimensions than the gas spent. Like in other chains, all transactions posted on the network must be processed and immutably stored in the blockchain.
The current gas structure, the proposer said, doesn’t impact processing or the general state of the network. However, it could have severe ramifications in the long term. Changing gas fees would have added benefits for the ecosystem, leading to a higher minimum benefit. Consequently, they argue that this will warrant the long-term cost of the overall ecosystem.
Besides increasing the minimum benefits, the proposal will shield the network against spam attacks. By increasing the minimum gas fees threshold, any spamming activity would be more expensive.
The proposal reads:
“Stability and security of the network 1 Low gas prices allow actors to spam the network at virtually no cost. Currently, it would take time, until the minimum gas threshold increases substantially, to stop the attack. Increasing the minimum gas threshold ensures that such an attack is much more costly from the get-go, even if it is only sustained for a short period.”
CELO is trading at .682 when writing on January 25, 2023.
Feature image from Canva, Chart from TradingView