A new token primitive, ERC-404, emerges — causing gas fees to spike. What is the new ERC-404 narrative? Learn about this and more in our DeFi roundup!
ERC-404 tokens are the new shiny object in the market, sending gas fees through the roof. EigenLayer reopens for deposits for a four day window this week as well, but sees their deposits increase by more than 150% in the timeframe while Frax Finance launches the testnet for their new L2, Fractal, amidst a hectic week in the crypto space.
Overview
Total Value Locked (TVL) across all chains take a huge leap higher as the crypto market surge higher on the back of rising inflows into BTC ETFs. Notable outperformers include omni-chain L1 blockchain, ZetaChain, and modular L2, Mode, which both saw inflows due to their points programs as well as StarkNet, which saw renewed interest with expectations of an upcoming airdrop announcement.
Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/
Welcome to Alpha Central
Binance Research drops a thread on the latest narrative to hit the crypto space: ERC-404s, an experimental token standard.
TL;DR:
- ERC-404s are an unofficial token standard seeking to combine characteristics from ERC-20 and ERC-721
- The standard mints an NFT for the user if they purchase 1 full ERC-20 token. If the token is sold, the corresponding NFT will also be transferred and vice versa.
- ERC-404s can be seen as a different form of NFT fractionalization, which could improve liquidity for new NFT collections.
Ethereum: Dencun Coming March ‘24
The highly anticipated upcoming Ethereum upgrade, Dencun, will be coming to Ethereum mainnet on 13 March 2024. The announcement comes shortly after the Dencun upgrade successfully went live on the Holesky testnet.
ETH restaking protocol, EigenLayer, reopens deposits for users while introducing three new accepted liquid staking tokens to the platform: sfrxETH, lsETH and mETH. The window has since closed but the protocol saw an additional 1.4 million ETH tokens deposited in the four day window, sending its TVL up 2.5x.
Other Product Launches and Updates
- DeFiLlama co-founder, 0xngmi, launches SmolRefuel, a handy tool to swap ERC-20 tokens to gas tokens on supported chains without requiring any gas tokens for the initial swap.
- Origin Protocol introduces primeETH, a new liquid restaking token designed to enable users to earn EigenLayer points while earning XP on Origin Protocol. Users can deposit oETH, stETH, mETH, sfrxETH or ETHx to receive primeETH.
- Cross-chain interoperability solution, Axelar, deploys the Interchain Token Service (ITS), a new no-code service that allows the permissionless deployment of Interchain Tokens, which are fungible and customizable across Axelar’s supported 15 blockchains.
- Yield protocol, Sommelier Finance, successfully completes a protocol upgrade, bringing to the platform the ability to launch on alt-EVMs, distribution of accrued protocol fees to SOMM stakers and increased decentralization of the role of strategist.
L2s: Frax Finance L2 Testnet Live
DeFi suite, Frax Finance, launches the testnet for their L2 chain, Fractal. The chain is built on the OP Stack and the testnet is currently open to selected launch partners. The testnet will be opened to the general public in the upcoming days. The chain will also launch an FXTL point system with an airdrop snapshot later this month.
Synthetix founder, Kain Warwick, discusses the future of Synthetix after the successful launch of the protocol on Base. The team is considering the launch of their own chain, Snaxchain, to unify everything Synthetix into a single place and to retire their legacy systems.
Other Product Launches and Updates
- EigenLayer native liquid restaking protocol, Renzo, partners with Connext Network to introduce native restaking on Arbitrum, allowing users to bypass Ethereum mainnet gas fees while still participating in EigenLayer’s restaking. The feature is currently in audits and will be launched shortly.
- EigenLayer native liquid restaking platform, EtherFi, partners with yield derivative platform, Pendle, to offer eETH directly on Arbitrum. Users who deposit in the first two weeks will receive 3x EtherFi loyalty points.
- On-chain perpetuals platform for forex, commodities and crypto assets, Avantis, launches on Base, beginning with 22 pairs to trade with. Users can now trade or provide USDC as a liquidity provider to power the platform.
- Arbitrum-based cross-chain money market protocol, Synonym Finance, goes live on mainnet. Synonym is powered by Wormhole and currently supports Ethereum, Arbitrum and Optimism.
- DEX aggregator, Matcha, announces Matcha Auto on Arbitrum. Matcha Auto allows for token swaps without requiring ETH for gas, while enjoying Matcha’s protection from Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) attacks and their deep liquidity.
- Arbitrum perpetuals aggregator, Rage Trade, introduces Rage Aggregator Lite, which introduces to the platform better optimized trade routes, faster integration of perpetual markets, better wallet compatibility, enhanced bridging and referral experiences.
Another Week, Another Airdrop
Rollup-as-a-Service platform, AltLayer, announces the opening of registration for airdrop claims for eligible Celestia stakers. Registration will remain open until 16th February, with the actual claim occurring four days after.
RollApps L1 chain, Dymension goes live on mainnet alongside the DYM token airdrop to wallets who claimed prior. The chain initially failed to launch at the scheduled time due to hiccups with getting consensus from genesis validators.
Interoperability layer, Wormhole, announces tokenomics for their token, W, as well as their upcoming airdrop, for which the snapshot has already been taken prior to the publishing of the blog post. 17% of the supply has been allocated to the community with 11% unlocked at the token generation event (TGE).
Oracle network, Pyth Network, executes Phase 2 of their retrospective airdrop, airdropping PYTH tokens to more than 160 applications across 27 chains.
Tweet of the Week
Reetika reminds us the importance of understanding market conditions as well as taking higher timeframe trades.
Stay updated on your favorite projects and stay tuned for next week’s edition, and keep supporting your favorite projects, degens!
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