February 29, 2024
I. Mainstream exchange news
- Binance.US will delist Aragon (ANT) and Waves (WAVES).
- Coinbase announced that all services have been restored and they are resolving the issue of inaccurate account balances for a small number of customers.
- Binance is attracting non-cryptocurrency traders with a new VIP program.
- Binance will remove five spot trading pairs, including ALPINE/EUR, and GMT/BNB.
- Binance will support the Sei (SEI) network upgrade.
II. Mainstream projects and trending events
- DEX and liquidity protocol Cetus announces strategic investment from Sui Foundation.
- Gemini settles with the New York State Department of Financial Services, committing to reimburse Earn customers up to $1.1 billion.
- The assets of five US Bitcoin spot ETFs exceed $2 billion.
- Crypto lending platform Ledn extends support for borrowing with ETH as collateral.
- COTI proposes to launch the Ethereum Layer 2 development network COTI V2 Devnet in Q2 this year.
- Telegram's advertising platform will leverage the TON blockchain for managing advertising revenue payments and withdrawals.
- DWF Labs launches institutional-level OTC trading platform Liquid Markets.
- US SEC is asking for a court extension to submit its trial defense brief in the Ripple case, potentially pushing the deadline to March 22nd.
III. Funding news
- Bitcoin pledge chain BounceBit completed a $6 million seed funding round, led by Blockchain Capital.
- Chain game infrastructure start-up company READYgg completed $4 million in financing, with participation from Delphi Digital.
- Liquidity re-pledging protocol Ether.Fi completed a $23 million series A funding round, led by Bullish Capital and CoinFund.
- Backpack, a crypto exchange, completed a $17 million series A funding round at a valuation of $120 million.
- Pantera Capital announced an investment in the decentralized lending protocol Morpho Labs.
- DePIN project Geodnet secured $3.5 million in funding, led by North Island Ventures.
IV. Regulatory news
- The Central Bank of Nigeria's Governor reported that in 2023, untraceable funds amounting to $26 billion were transacted through Binance in Nigeria.
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is set to introduce a 'sandbox' soon, facilitating institutions to trial stablecoins.
- The Financial Secretary of Hong Kong has revealed that the scope of the digital yuan's pilot program will be expanded in Hong Kong.
IV. Popular projects
WOO X and WOOFi reach record-high volumes
On Feb 28th, WOO X exchange saw a record $2B daily trading volume. WOOFi experienced over $300M in trade in the past 24 hours, reaching $1.74B in total volume. WOOFi reported record-breaking revenue for three straight days. Within the Arbitrum ecosystem, WOOFi ranks fourth in terms of Active dApp users count in the last 7 days. Simultaneously, user growth from ecosystems like zkSync, Linea, and Optimism is accelerating rapidly, suggesting continuous expansion of the WOO ecosystem.
Market overview
BTC reached a high point of $64,000, leaving it just 7.8% below its 2021 peak of $69,000. Spot ETFs for BTC, excluding GBTC, exhibited strong performance, attracting $6.72B in inflow by Feb 27th. The daily trade volume of nine Bitcoin spot ETFs was recorded at approximately $6B, with Blackrock's IBIT contributing $3.3B. As of Feb 28th, IBIT only rose 23.2% post-listing, indicating the nascent state of the BTC Spot ETF market. The surge in BTC witnessed the Coinbase site crash. Meanwhile, a USDT premium across a variety of national currencies has been observed. The current BTC high of $69,000 is set to be surpassed, with potential peaks between $80,000 and $120,000.
Restaking track: Key updates from leading projects within ETH and BTC ecosystems
Eigenlayer: The total value locked (TVL) broke through $9.4 billion. So far, 2.05 billion points have been rewarded, and the number of independent pledge addresses has reached 115,000.
Ether.fi: The TVL has reached $1.71 billion, ranking second in the ETH restaking track. On Feb 28th, the company announced the completion of a $23 million funding round led by Bullish Capital and CoinFund. A token issuance is expected soon.
Kelp DAO: On February 29th, Kelp DAO initiated the distribution of its KEP token, with 7.4 million tokens already claimed. The on-chain liquidity currently stands at $184,000. The trading volume over the past 24 hours reached $508,000, reflecting a market capitalization of $22 million. As of now, Kelp DAO's collective staked capital is valued at $634 million.
Babylon: Babylon initiated its testnet on February 28th. Upon downloading the wallet, users can garner Signet BTC and the privilege of minting a Pioneer pass by staking any quantity of sBTC. Each pass attributes a user number signifying the staking time. Timely participation is recommended with the testing phase lasting a mere seven days. Remember, each wallet can buy only a single pass, which can be minted free of charge in the OKX wallet.
Bouncebit: On Feb 29th, the BTC restaking project Bouncebit announced a seed funding round of $6 million led by Breyercapital and Blockchain Capital. Users can join the points activity with an invitation code. The platform's TVL is currently at $547 million.
Solana ecosystem
After achieving a new high of $126.36 on December 25, 2023, SOL has undergone two months of adjustment. The token's value is now on an upward trajectory, currently standing at $122. Over the last seven days, it has gained 20%. Meanwhile, the level of attention to projects within the Solana ecosystem has gradually improved.
BONK: As a leading meme within the Solana ecosystem, BONK has proven to be an elastic asset. Influenced by the surge of PEPE on ETH, BONK, as a core meme within the Solana ecosystem, surged 47% in the last 24 hours. The total trading volume was recorded at $650 million, demonstrating a significant leading effect and driving the rise of WIF, MYRO, WEN, POPCAT, and other projects.
WIF: As the most active memecoin in the Solana ecosystem, WIF has broken a new all-time high. The global trading volume in the past 24 hours exceeded $160 million, and on-chain trading amounted to $34 million, indicating extremely high user transaction activity.
JUP: As the leading DEX aggregator platform in Solana's ecosystem, JUP announced on February 28th its plans to hold a Launchpad vote next week. 20 teams have applied so far and two projects will be selected as alternates in the future. The top-ranked project will have priority in choosing the token listing time, and 75% of the Launchpad fee will be distributed to voting users to encourage participation, gradually highlighting the capabilities of JUP tokens.
JTO: With the rising popularity of LSD and LRT on Ethereum, Jito as a leading staking platform in the Solana ecosystem will secure more value as SOL's market cap increases, eventually becoming an indispensable infrastructure within Solana’s DeFi ecosystem.
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