Spring Airdrop Season: Tokens Galore from Starknet & LayerZero!

• Sam Altman's Worldcoin Updates and Token Airdrops
• Network News: Airdrop Roundup
• Other Highlights
• Protocol Village: Blockchain Tech Developments
• Money Center: Fundraisings, Deals, and Grants
• Regulatory and Policy
• Ordinals Inscriptions

Sam Altman's Worldcoin Updates and Token Airdrops

Sam Altman, a notable figure in the crypto sphere, is recognized for his significant project, Worldcoin. The project, notorious for its iris-scanning orb akin to a Black Mirror episode, has recently rolled out a major update. This update was discussed in detail thanks to the efforts of tech expert, Tiago Sada. He provided insights into the project's potential corporate user pipeline.

Another focus of this article is the surge in token airdrops, the latest Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% wallet from Jack Dorsey's Block, and the ambitious plans of Celestia to integrate into Polygon$0.967 -3.65%'s blockchain development kit.

Network News: Airdrop Roundup

Whether due to the ongoing rally in cryptocurrency markets or the fruition of long-term efforts, a wave of blockchain platforms are confirming plans for new token releases. These releases, also known as airdrops, are sparking additional excitement among digital asset traders. Renowned projects such as the Ethereum$2,315 -2.42% layer-2 project Starknet plan to allocate 1.8 billion STRK tokens soon. LayerZero, the interoperability protocol easing blockchain connections, announced plans to issue a token in 2024. Other notable projects include the Solana$104 5.03%-based crypto staking project Jito and Kamino Finance, a DeFi protocol on Solana.

Other Highlights

The future of Solana's highly-publicized Saga phone is currently being reviewed as sales numbers underperform. El Salvador's new Freedom VISA could potentially yield $1B bitcoin per year. Howard Lutnick, CEO of Wall Street bond brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, is a firm Bitcoin advocate and Tether$1.000 -0.12% enthusiast. Professional services network Deloitte is utilizing the Polkadot$8.21 -2.51% ecosystem's Kilt blockchain for digital shipping logistics.

Protocol Village: Blockchain Tech Developments

1. Celestia, a data availability (DA) solution, announced its plans to become an option for blockchain builders using Polygon's software tools. The announcement caused considerable discussion on social media and within digital-asset markets.

2. Nil Foundation unveiled the features of its new Type-1 zkEVM powered by zkLLVM, prioritizing security through its proprietary zkLLVM compiler.

3. Beam, an open-source blockchain for gaming controlled by Merit Circle$1.66 -5.09% DAO, announced its launch on Immutable zkEVM, a scaling solution powered by Polygon.

4. Decentralized exchange Uniswap, the fifth-largest DeFi protocol, is expanding to the Bitcoin sidechain Rootstock, bolstering Bitcoin's DeFi landscape.

5. Blocknative, a blockchain infrastructure firm, has launched a new tool to scrutinize Ethereum's mempool of pending transactions.

Money Center: Fundraisings, Deals, and Grants

Bitcoin-focused project Babylon raised $18 million in an investment round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC. Other notable investments include digital asset brokerage firm Nonco, which raised $10M in seed funding.

Namada, a protocol that promotes privacy as a public good, initiated the Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RPGF) program, allocating 6.5% of its total NAM token supply to reward individuals contributing to the privacy and zero-knowledge (ZK) technology ecosystems.

Regulatory and Policy

A modification to the structure of BlackRock's proposed spot bitcoin ETF allows Wall Street banks, which are restricted from holding cryptocurrencies, to participate in a significant role. This new format allows authorized participants to create new fund shares with cash instead of only with cryptocurrency.

Ordinals Inscriptions

Bitcoin purists seek to maintain the Bitcoin blockchain free from non-financial transactions, such as the text snippets and images inscribed onto the blockchain via the Ordinals protocol. However, many blockchain users argue that market forces should dictate the Bitcoin blockchain's usage. The accompanying chart illustrates the amount of fees generated to date by inscriptions-related transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, totaling $147.7 million.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker