Author: The Block

The long-in-the-making process of bringing multiple blockchains to the Polkadot network culminated this weekend with the official kick-off of five parachains. The five parachains that went live this weekend — Acala, Astar, Clover, Moonbeam, and Parallel Finance — were chosen following successful parachain auctions. All told, nearly 99 million DOT, worth approximately $2.4 billion, was garnered by the five projects during the auction period. Winning projects effectively lease their parachain slots, which last for 96 weeks. “The launch of parachains on Polkadot represents the culmination of the original vision outlined in the Polkadot Whitepaper (aka the Polkadot Paper) in 2016,” the…

The German sportswear brand Adidas Originals earned 5,924 ETH, or $23.5 million, from its collaborative “Into the Metaverse” drop with Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the non-fungible token (NFT) collector gmoney and the crypto-focused media group PUNKS Comic. Adidas Originals began its Early Access minting stage on December 17, in which holders of an Adidas Originals proof-of-attendance protocol (“POAP,” which are given to attendees of virtual or physical events), gmoney POAP, a BAYC or Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT or a Pixel Wallet NFT gained entry. The Early Access stage minted 20,000 NFTs for 0.2 ETH — $15.5 million — and finished a little…

Crypto exchange Kraken is working on a platform to support non-fungible tokens (NFTs). “NFTs are a fast-moving space and we are excited to begin offering services in this field in the very near future,” a Kraken spokesperson told The Block.  It is not clear which specific NFT services Kraken will offer, but the spokesperson said the exchange will help take some of the NFT activity “off-chain, which would help keep both minting and transaction fees down to a minimum.” Earlier this week, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell told Bloomberg that the exchange is “working on an NFT platform right now to give investors exposure to the…

Ethereum layer 2 scaling network Optimism announced Thursday that it has removed the whitelist and is now open to everyone. The move means any project can now deploy their smart contracts on the Optimism network. Until now, the network was only available to whitelisted projects, such as Uniswap and Synthetix. The whitelist allowed Optimism and select projects to communicate directly and resolve bugs. The public launch of Optimism will let all project developers build on Optimism permissionlessly, similar to Ethereum. Last month, Optimism launched “EVM Equivalence,” saying that its network is completely aligned with Ethereum Virtual Machine and developers can deploy contracts with…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has punted on two more spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposals. Two extension orders hit the docket Friday for NYSE Arca’s proposed rule changes — one for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust proposal and another for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust proposal. The SEC will now take an additional 45 days to review both proposals, kicking their decision deadlines to February 1, 2022, and February 6, 2022, respectively. “The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the…

Ethereum scaling project Polygon and Seven Seven Six, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm, have jointly launched a $200 million initiative to invest in Web3 social media and gaming projects. The investments are denominated in dollars and not in Polygon’s MATIC tokens, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal told The Block. It will invest in startups building on Polygon’s technology and back their equity as well as token rounds, said Nailwal. Polygon and Seven Seven Six look to “contribute to a fair internet where users control their data and privacy,” said Nailwal. Each party’s contribution isn’t known. Nailwal declined to comment…

Issuer Valkyrie Funds launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) yesterday which holds public firms with bitcoin on the balance sheet. The Valkyrie Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF aims to give investors exposure to bitcoin by holding firms that directly or indirectly invest in, transact in or hold bitcoin on their balance sheets. That includes firms like MicroStrategy, Block (formerly Square), Tesla, Coinbase and PayPal among others. The fund plans to limit its exposure to mining companies in order to mitigate risk related to firms dealing directly in the bitcoin ecosystem Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg told the TD Ameritrade Network. At closing bell…

Former first lady Melania Trump announced her new non-fungible token (NFT) platform and stated that she would be using the Solana blockchain and the payment services of the crypto payment infrastructure startup MoonPay.  Both companies quickly clarified that they were not, in fact, partners with Trump — nor that they sought out any involvement with the former first lady. “I wanted to inform you, to avoid any confusion, that her choice to use the Solana blockchain was completely organic and this project is not part of any Solana-led initiative,” a Solana representative wrote in an emailed statement. Decrypt first reported on the Solana Labs…

Bitwise has launched an index fund tracking the 10 largest non-fungible token collections. The Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund will purchase and hold in custody NFTs from CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Autoglyphs, Fidenza, VeeFriends, CyberKongz Genesis, Cool Cats, Meebits and Chromie Squiggle. These represent the top 10 NFT collections based on market capitalization using floor prices, which the fund plans to rebalance quarterly. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the fund will focus its holdings on art and collectibles, meaning NFTs like music rights, virtual land and game items won’t be included. It will also exclude…

Dune Analytics, the Norwegian crypto analytics startup, is raising a fresh round of financing at a strikingly high valuation of $1 billion, according to several investors with knowledge of the round. One person close to the deal said that Coatue Management, the hedge fund, will participate in the fundraise. While further details of the deal remain unclear, the valuation is noteworthy in that it comes just four months after the startup — which was founded in 2018 — closed an $8 million Series A round. No valuation was disclosed at that time. Dune and Coatue were contacted for comment but did…