Somebody Get Crypto A Tourniquet

Polygon Acquires a Startup Dedicated to Scaling Ethereum

Ethereum scaling solution Polygon signed a deal to buy Predicate Labs, the developer of the Mir blockchain protocol, as part of a broader strategy to expand Ethereum’s capacity and allow for greater adoption. 

The crypto platform will tender 250 million MATIC tokens ($627.5 million) to the startup to acquire its zero-knowledge (ZK) tech. 

The Ethereum blockchain is one of the most widely used in the world, but its limited capacity means its users often pay a premium to transact on it. Gas fees for Ethereum have reached stubbornly high levels, around $70 per transaction. Mir has developed a technology known as zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups that are intended to offload data from Ethereum, which should consequentially reduce transaction fees.

Mir will be integrated into the Polygon ecosystem under a new name, Polygon Zero. It will join existing solutions such as Polygon PoS, Polygon Hermez, and Polygon Miden. 

“Polygon wants to offer a wide range of secure, fast, affordable, and energy-efficient Ethereum scaling solutions for web3 developers,” Polygon Co-Founder Sandeep Nailwal said in emailed comments. “The addition of Mir enables Polygon to gain access to the world’s fastest and most efficient ZK scaling technology.”

Ethereum 2.0 is supposed to fix Ethereum’s fees problem, but it won’t be ready until next year, and it’s still unclear how effective it will be in reducing fees. Meanwhile, Polygon could benefit from the new acquisition by becoming a more prominent player in so-called layer-2 technologies. Namely, it gains an edge in the wild west of rollups, which have the propensity to turn  layer-2 blockchains into “execution” layers by using them to compress transactions and then post them to the original chains (the “settlement” layer). Using this tech reduces transaction time and cost. However, Polygon does have competition in Arbitrum and Loopring. So basically, despite the fact that Eth2.0 is set to launch soon, crypto firms are betting on providing other solutions to enhance Ethereum’s scalability.

Polygon’s native token $MATIC.X has already attracted investors before this acquisition. It has risen a dramatic 10,037% in the past year according to crypto.com. Earlier this week, the token’s value increased by 40% to $2.50. Today, however, it was down at $2.22.

Good Times No Longer Rolling at Sushi

SushiSwap, the third-largest decentralized crypto exchange by trading volume, is experiencing internal strife. Following the resignation of 0xMaki, the anonymous co-founder and key developer of SushiSwap, the CTO has now exited. CTO Joseph Delong tweeted the news, saying that he had resigned from the decentralized exchange effective immediately. 

“I wish Sushi the best and am saddened that Sushi is so imperiled within and without. The chaos that is occurring now is unlikely to result in a resolution that will leave the DAO as much more of a shadow than it once was without a radical structural transformation,” he explained.

Delong expressed disappointment earlier this year that SushiSwap couldn’t launch on Optimism, a Layer 2 scaling platform for Ethereum. He also claimed centralized exchanges refused to help him identify hackers after he experienced a $3M hack at SushiSwap’s token launchpad, saying it was the “hardest day of my life so far.” This morning, he posted a blog explaining his challenges at SushiSwap, pointing out the management and communication difficulties. 

Before leaving the DAO, Delong suggested the installation of a C-suite that would have the tools needed to manage a team effectively outside the organization. He’s taking a month-long vacation with the family before launching a new project.

The resignation of Delong comes at a time when the DEX is already dealing with heightened tensions among its team members. 0xMaki, one of the key developers taking over the project after Chef Nomi stole and returned funds intended for the project’s development team, was accused of being forced out by former team members. He wrote in his blog after his departure that the exchange had affected his personal life. 

SushiSwap is the ninth-largest DeFi project in terms of TVL, with $3.59 billion in assets locked in its liquidity pools, according to DeFi Pulse. The ongoing mudslinging provides a fascinating example of how anonymity and the lack of structure in the DeFi world may take a toll on the faces behind the crypto projects.

Despite India’s Tough Stance, This CEO Hopes For Positive Regulations 

India is about to undergo a major crypto overhaul as it prepares to create laws to regulate digital currency. Despite the uncertainty, cryptocurrency firms are expanding in the country. One of them is CoinDCX, India’s first crypto unicorn, which is soon going to be listed on the stock market. We talked with its CEO and co-founder, Mr. Sumit Gupta, to find out what the undercurrent is:

ST: Why is CoinDCX planning to go public amidst regulatory uncertainty? Do you believe that the government will not take a tough stance?   

SG: While we aspire to one day hold an IPO, this is a long-term goal for CoinDCX and is not something that we are actively pursuing at this moment. Of course, a well-defined regulatory process in the country will benefit not only us but the entire ecosystem in their growth strategy. 

At this stage, we are focused on strengthening our service offerings to our expanding customer base to ensure that they enjoy a safe and secure trading experience.

ST: The Indian government announced that it would ban private cryptocurrencies. But what exactly are private cryptocurrencies in your opinion?

SG: There is no official label of private cryptocurrencies elsewhere as it is important to note what the bill will be classifying as private. Given that the full details of the bill are not yet available, we will not speculate as to what it may potentially entail. 

ST: Although the government wants to adopt new technologies and work on CBDC, the PM says Bitcoin is not good for youth. Doesn’t this approach seem contradictory to you?

SG: While it is clear that the government recognizes the transformative potential of blockchain, and is paying closer attention to their usage and applications in our everyday lives, crypto in and of itself is still an emerging asset class that may not be well understood by the public.   

As such, education would be key to raising awareness and combating misinformation about crypto. This is why at CoinDCX, we launched DCXLearn, a platform with free courses to foster a better understanding of blockchain technology and crypto projects. We would love to continue working with policymakers to engender a greater understanding of the digital asset sector.

ST: What if the government takes a harsh and unexpected decision on crypto? What would be your backup plan? 

SG: We firmly believe that crypto represents the future of finance. While we remain optimistic that the government will adopt a future-forward approach for regulations, we also acknowledge that full details of the bill are not out yet, and hence will refrain from speculating. For CoinDCX, we will continue to focus our efforts on ​​strengthening our service offerings to our expanding customer base to ensure that they enjoy a safe and secure trading experience.

ST: As most economists, academicians, and industrialists do not endorse cryptocurrency in India, what kind of support are you looking for?

SG: Crypto is a powerful trend that is shaping economies around the world, and the evidence is clear: in 2021 alone, Indian crypto companies got over $500 Million Investment.

Given the rate at which Indians are adopting crypto and massive interest by venture capital funds, FDI in this sector could grow to over $25 Billion by 2025 and likely to cross $200 Billion by 2030. The tremendous potential of crypto and blockchain technology is clear for all to see, and this provides the strongest validation of what CoinDCX and the rest of the industry are doing. 

Solana Is Slow, Again!

It seems that Solana, the so-called “Ethereum killer,” is currently struggling. The Solana network, which claims to be the world’s fastest blockchain, experienced network congestion yesterday and became bogged down. After 24 hours of downtime, the Solana network has yet to identify the cause of the congestion. The continuing congestion has sparked discussions about centralization, communication, and transparency from the ecosystem’s most influential stakeholder, Solana Labs.

The network claims to verify 65,000 transactions per second at a cost of less than a penny each. Yesterday it was under 500 though, which irked engineers and validators as they struggled to verify the transactions.  

Coindesk reported that out of 1,000-plus validators, only 35 community members attended a public video chat to discuss the issue and reliability of the network. During the conversation, members asked tough questions like – Could Solana benefit from a centralized observation system? 

It is still not known what causes this network congestion, but Solana has been experiencing it for a while now. 

During an outage in September, the blockchain was down for 18 hours and received harsh criticism, including being fragile and immature.

Due to the current crisis with so-called ‘Ethereum killers,’ despite the fact that it processes around 15 transactions per second, Ethereum is still king of the DeFi world. Solana claims that it can provide a good alternative to the Ethereum blockchain, with a fast transaction rate at a low cost, and has made some progress, but has yet to fully realize it in reality. Experts say that there is still room for advancement in the new technology, but it’s a race to see what will prevail as we approach the launch of Eth2 in 2022.