Web3 | Identosphere Blogcatcher

Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 chain sets “big, hairy, audacious” goals for this year.

Mainnet is slated to launch before the end of January, and Abstract just announced its version of a points program.

Hard forks on Ethereum test networks have been scheduled for February ahead of the mainnet launch.

The token is the latest AI Agent infrastructure token to launch on PumpFun.

Tether launched USDT0 on Kraken’s Layer 2, Ink.

Why AI agent infra projects are the picks and shovels trade of the AI x Crypto meta. 

Last month marked a historic peak in crypto trading volumes on centralized exchanges, driven by increased market activity and Bitcoin's price surge.

As Solana’s economic activity grows, a new proposal suggests shifting from fixed emissions to a dynamic system.

Traders are buying up the rumor that President Donald Trump will hold to his word and commute the Silk Road founder’s sentence.

Coinbase Vice President Max Branzburg called the loans a way of “unlocking economic freedom for all.”

Phantom Wallet has successfully raised $150 million in a funding round that has elevated its valuation to $3 billion

Eliza Wakes Up is now accepting pre-orders for its life-sized Eliza robot.

Over 20 venture firms participated in the platform’s seed funding round, including F-Prime Capital and Galaxy Ventures.

LTC is rallying after analysts saif they see signs that an ETF proposal is moving ahead at the SEC.

Dig into this DeFi lending app traders keep flocking to.

The waitlist for the new blockchain project, Monsters.fun, has officially launched

During his confirmation hearing, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary, stated that he sees no reason for the United States to have a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

Whales have accumulated approximately $3.8 billion in XRP since Nov. 12, according to Santiment.

Heightened volatility rocks the cryptocurrency market ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

AI Agents remain the strongest performers in the crypto markets, with a bounce led by AIXBT, ARC, and GRIFFAIN.

CoinGecko’s 2024 Annual Crypto Industry Report highlighted AI market cap and Solana’s market share spiking in the fourth quarter.

The 17-story Crypto Tower is set to become a hub for blockchain, Web3, and DeFi companies.

Holders of token warrants, TGE tokens, and even staking and governance tokens can utilize the product.

The Trump-affiliated DeFi platform recently swapped 103 Wrapped Bitcoin worth $10 million for 3,075 ETH.

The country’s SEC is exploring listing Bitcoin ETFs on local exchanges, following the launch of a fund offering exposure to overseas options.

The global investment manager’s report sent AI agent tokens up 30% to 90%.

700 million JUP, approximately $581 million will be airdropped to eligible participants across three categories.

The memecoin is Coinbase’s first Base-native listing, and also the one with the lowest market capitalization.

This post describes work done by Anirudha Bose (Staff Engineer, Web3) and Michele Ferri (Search Engineer).

Today, we’re excited to introduce on-chain capabilities to Brave Search, enabling users to receive better results than traditional search engines and blockchain explorers by delivering live data with privacy protection. Available today for all Brave Search users around the world, this feature lets users look up any Ethereum address, Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain, or Solana account, and view their entire portfolio of token balances.

We deliver these results with a real-time guarantee and uncompromising privacy. Traditional block explorers can link wallet addresses to IPs and later send this data to those interested in removing the pseudonymity of blockchains. Brave has a long proven history of caring for the privacy of your browsing and searching, and now it can also maintain the privacy of your on-chain lookups.

Brave Search as a blockchain explorer

A search engine is the first place we go to for answers. This is true for simple informational queries, and also for much longer, more specific ones. For example, the Brave Search team noticed a larger-than-expected number of queries that were 40 characters long. While these weren’t typical search queries, they clearly served a purpose to the user. We realized our users were looking to access blockchain data, and specifically, to check token balances associated with these addresses. This insight led us to enhance Brave Search with integrated functionality that instantly surfaces valuable on-chain data directly in search results, without requiring users to visit external websites.

Token balances of vitalik.eth ENS domain on OP Mainnet

Token balances of a canonical EVM address on Ethereum

Token balances of a canonical Solana account

Real-time results

The nature of on-chain data is such that it needs to be current in order to be useful. Search engines that surface rudimentary on-chain data typically rely on third-party indexers, which can introduce lags and inconsistencies between what is shown and the current chain state.

EVM address balances on Google can often be outdated

Based on our experience building Brave Wallet, we took a different approach to on-chain searches that guarantees results have real-time accuracy. This means you can trust that the information you’re seeing is accurate at the moment of your query, not what it was minutes or blocks ago.

Having real-time querying capability is particularly important for handling rebase tokens that automatically adjust their supply and holders’ balances. For example, Staked Ether (stETH) by Lido Finance uses a rebase function in order to maintain price parity and pay out staking rewards. While traditional indexers only refresh balances when triggered by external transactions, our approach ensures that token balances are correctly captured even if elastic supply mechanisms cause them to change between transactions.

Privacy preserving

Brave Search does not profile you, or retain your IP address. This eliminates scenarios where blockchain explorers could potentially aggregate and analyze patterns in your address lookups, and thus build a comprehensive profile that’s linked to your IP address.

Such information, if shared or breached, could be exploited by entities seeking to unmask the pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrency transactions. By choosing Brave Search for your on-chain lookups, you can protect yourself from surveillance and potential deanonymization attempts.

Feature comparison Brave Search Google Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Yes (6 networks) Yes (5 networks) Solana Yes No Native asset balances Yes Yes Token balances Yes No Ethereum Name Service (ENS) support Yes Limited Rebase tokens support Yes No Real-time results Yes No Pricing data Yes No Privacy preserving Yes No Available now for all Brave Search users

Starting today, on-chain address lookups for EVM and Solana are available to all Brave Search users worldwide, regardless of what browser they are using. ENS domains are also supported, making it easier to look up EVM addresses using human-readable names.

This feature represents a significant first step towards helping users search on-chain data in Brave Search, and we’re committed to innovating on this front in the future.

About Brave Search

Brave Search is the fastest growing independent search engine since Bing. Unlike Big Tech search engines, Brave Search does not profile its users; unlike supposedly alternative engines, Brave Search serves results from a truly independent index of the Web. This means Brave Search can offer both industry-leading privacy and an effective counter to the bias and censorship prevalent in Big Tech’s personalization.

Brave Search continues to reach new all-time highs, serving more than 42 million queries per day (and more than 1.2 billion queries each month). It’s the default search engine for most new Brave browser users, which now has over 77 million users worldwide.

The DePIN project relies on miners who set up WiFi hotspots to earn ROAM rewards to create a secure public WiFi network.

HashKey’s 2025 outlook anticipates significant market growth driven by decentralized exchanges, AI integration, and global regulatory alignment.

CryptoPunks just surged amid swirling rumors of a Yuga Labs sale, which Yuga has denied.

The heavily hyped L1 is almost here. Here's how to get involved with pre-launch opportunities.

VanEck has filed for the Onchain Economy ETF, marking the launch of the first actively managed ETF in this sector

Senator Cynthia Lummis has made headlines with a statement indicating that 'things are about to get crazy' regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulations

XRP, a cryptocurrency, has surpassed the $3 price mark for the first time since 2018

Italy's largest bank has made a spot Bitcoin purchase, signaling its readiness to meet increasing demand from high-net-worth clients

Improved U.S. inflation figures have bolstered confidence in digital assets, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading a broad market rally.

U.S. government to surrender over half of Its Bitcoin holdings.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s planned departure on inauguration day will leave two pro-crypto commissioners in charge until joined by incoming Chairman Paul Atkins.

The flagship NFT profile picture collection is up 10% on the rumor, but Yuga’s CEO has denied the claims.

Healthcare is a $4 trillion industry, making up nearly a fifth of the U.S. economy—but despite having some of the best doctors and advanced technology, the system often delivers poor outcomes at skyrocketing costs. Why is this the case, and what will it take to fix it?

In this episode, a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen and General Partners Vijay Pande and Julie Yoo tackle some of the biggest questions shaping the future of healthcare:

Is the solution to our healthcare crisis a policy, technology, or competition problem? Will AI and technology transform the industry, or are regulatory and structural barriers too entrenched? Who will crack the code—healthcare incumbents, tech giants, or AI-native startups?

From chronic care to cost curves, from disruptive technologies to shifting patient agency, this conversation offers an unfiltered look at what’s broken in the healthcare system and how it might finally change.

Resources: 

Find Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Find Vijay on X: https://x.com/vijaypande

Find Julie on X: https://x.com/julesyoo

The Biggest Company in the World

Why Will Healthcare be the Industry that Benefits Most from AI?

Grand Challenges in Healthcare AI with Vijay Pande and Julie Yoo

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Bitwise's prediction comes amid growing global adoption of Bitcoin, as more countries recognize its potential as a hedge against economic uncertainty.

The multi-chain portfolio tracker launched its official AI agent, Moby, with the help of Griffain on Jan 13.

Citing the president-elect’s promises of a crypto-friendly environment, the Telegram messaging service-linked blockchain is refocusing on the U.S. market.

Cybercrimes Research Lead Eric Jardine said 2025 will be the year AI changes crypto, for better and for worse.

The founder of Cove Finance expects a golden age of American-based DeFi.

2024 年：Horizen 的变革之年

2024 年对于 Horizen 来说无疑是一个变革性的一年。从突破性的升级到增强的代币经济学和大胆的品牌更新，这一年标志着我们旅程中的决定性时刻。

以下是今年一些最重要的成就：

Horizen 2.0 升级和 ZEN 的新代币经济学：升级准备工作正在全速推进！

删除屏蔽池：降低 $ZEN 的监管风险，以便我们可以通过创新实现隐私。

Grayscale 向美国证券交易委员会提交了 Horizen Trust 的 8-K 文件： 让合格的合格投资者更容易获得 ZEN

通过了 7 个 ZenIP：包括可扩展性和治理方面的关键更新。

品牌更新：揭晓新的视觉形象。

全球增长：$ZEN 实现新交易所上市，举办了众多活动，并获得了媒体的广泛认可。

让我们深入了解 2024 年的完整回顾，反思我们的里程碑并为下一步做好准备！

Horizen 2.0：为未来铺平道路

2024 年 6 月，Horizen 社区以压倒性多数投票决定将 Horizen 主链和 Horizen EON 升级到新的、更先进的区块链架构Horizen 2.0。

这次重大升级解决了遗留系统的局限性，并使 Horizen 成为 ZK 技术中心的愿景保持一致。

已实现的关键里程碑

迁移准备：$ZEN 迁移的准备工作已经完成，并且已拥有无缝的代币领取流程，可供主网启动使用。

共识和质押机制已准备就绪：使用 AURA 共识算法的新型 PoS 系统将增强网络安全性并支持 $ZEN 的代币经济学。

EVM 兼容性就绪：EVM 功能支持 Solidity 智能合约和以太坊应用程序的互操作性。

zkVerify 集成就绪：Horizen 2.0 测试平行链成功与 zkVerify 的测试中继链连接，为先进的 ZK 证明系统铺平了道路。

内部开发网络已启动：内部测试网络已上线，正在完善公开发布之前的关键功能。

了解有关 Horizen 2.0 升级的更多信息：

  Horizen 2.0 | 下一代第 1 层平台 探索 Horizen 2.0 的 ZK 优化平台，使开发人员能够使用先进的证明系统构建创新应用程序…… www.horizen.io Horizen 2.0 白皮书发布

Horizen 2.0 白皮书概述了 Horizen 生态系统的重大进步和战略升级，旨在增强其功能、可扩展性、安全性和互操作性。

白皮书讨论了 ZK 应用当前面临的挑战，包括高成本、网络拥塞和有限的证明机制。

Horizen 2.0 通过针对 ZK 应用优化的 EVM 提供解决方案：

以最小成本实现更快的 ZK 证明

灵活的证明系统

高效的网络设计，具有原生 zkVerify 集成

增强的安全性和可扩展性

通过 Horizen 2.0 深入了解区块链的未来，并了解它将如何推动下一波创新！阅读完整的白皮书：

下载.horizen.io   下载.horizen.io ZEN 的新代币经济学

ZenIP 42407 的通过正式为 Horizen 2.0 引入了新的代币经济学。这标志着 Horizen 生态系统发展的关键时刻，为长期增长和稳定奠定了基础，使网络的财务模型与其成为 zk 领域领导者的长期愿景保持一致。

这一变化是 Horizen 更大目标的一部分，旨在增强其去中心化应用程序生态系统，尤其是那些使用零知识技术的应用程序。这些代币经济学变化解决了剩余 ZEN 代币的分配、归属时间表和奖励系统，以确保可持续增长、网络安全和生态系统参与者的激励。

以下是 $ZEN 新代币经济学的摘要：

在我们的博客文章中详细了解已实施的变更以及它们对 Horizen 生态系统的意义：

  Horizen 2.0 的新代币经济学：向前迈出的重要一步 新的代币经济学标志着 Horizen 生态系统演变的关键时刻，为长期增长奠定了基础…… 镜子.xyz ZEN 第二次也是最后一次减半

2024 年 12 月 12 日，Horizen 在其代币经济学发生突破性转变之前，通过最后一次减半事件达到了一个重要里程碑。

这不仅仅是又一次减半——经过八年的增长、技术进步和社区合作，这一事件标志着一个新时代的开始——标志着向更平滑的排放曲线的转变。

这一里程碑增强了 ZEN 的稳定性，促进了生态系统的发展，并为 Horizen 在 2025 年即将到来的权益证明 (PoS) 转型做好了准备。

在我们的博客文章中了解有关第二次也是最后一次 Horizen 减半的更多信息：

  ZEN 最后一次减半：Horizen 进入新时代 2024 年 12 月 12 日，$ZEN 将经历最后一次减半，之后该项目的代币经济学将迎来重大转变。这一里程碑意味着…… 镜子.xyz ZEN 可访问性和交易所列表

2024 年，$ZEN 显著扩大了其可访问性，标志着其在获得全球认可的道路上迈出了重要的里程碑。

新交易所上市

值得注意的成就包括gTrade和Bitvavo上的新上市，使 $ZEN 可供更广泛的受众使用，并为交易者提供更多使用该代币的机会。这些新增功能提高了 $ZEN 在知名平台上的知名度和可访问性，巩固了其在市场上的地位。

Binance 删除了 ZEN 的监控标签

今年早些时候，币安取消了之前对 $ZEN 的监控标签，此举反映了该项目在加密货币领域的增长、合规性和增强的声誉。

Grayscale 向美国证券交易委员会提交了Horizen Trust的8-K 表格

此外，当 Grayscale Investments 向美国证券交易委员会提交 Horizen Trust 的 8-K 表格时，实现了一个重要的监管里程碑。

该文件强调了机构对 Horizen 的兴趣，并表明生态系统的合法性和信任度有所提高，进一步将 $ZEN 定位为区块链领域的可靠资产。

这些发展进一步证明了 $ZEN 的持续增长及其在市场中的认可度不断提高。

ZenIPs：管理和推动创新

Horizen 社区于 2024 年对 7 项 ZenIP（ZEN 改进提案）进行了投票，其中包括：

ZenIP 42207：从 Horizen 主链中移除屏蔽池 – 99.97% 赞成

ZenIP 42400：通过模块化证明验证层实现 Horizen 技术的现代化 – 100% 支持

ZenIP 42401：更新提案和法定人数门槛 – 77.34% 赞成

ZenIP 42404：EON 上的委托质押奖励机制 – 99.87% 赞成

ZenIP-42405：指示 Horizen 基金会请求 $ZEN 和 EON 的迁移提案 – 99.99% 赞成

ZenIP 42406：$ZEN 和 EON 迁移的技术路线图 – 99.87% 支持

ZenIP 42407：Horizen 2.0 代币经济学 – 100% 支持

在此处查看所有 ZenIP 的完整详细信息和投票细目：

快照.box   快照.box Horizen 品牌更新

今年早些时候，Horizen 推出了全新的品牌形象，开启了激动人心的新篇章，标志着其使命发生了重大转变。

这不仅仅是一次视觉上的更新，更是一次让我们更接近实现使命的进化，团结所有相信由隐私保护技术和可验证信任驱动的未来的人。

我们有目的地创建了我们的新品牌，以体现我们的使命并与所有与我们有着共同愿景的人产生共鸣，即建立一个安全、去中心化和可验证的世界。

查看下面的新 Horizen 网站和品牌！

  Horizen | 隐私新时代 Horizen 的 Layer 1 平台可让您使用先进的零知识技术构建安全且私密的应用程序。选择… www.horizen.io IRL 全球活动

2024 年期间，Horizen 团队参加了许多全球加密 / web3 活动，与全球的开发人员、建设者和爱好者建立了联系：

丹佛理工学院

巴黎区块链周

以太坊基金会

共识

ETHCC + Polkadot 解密

Coinfest 巴厘岛 + 韩国区块链周

Token2049 新加坡

米兰理工学院

zkSummit12

币安区块链周

德文康

媒体报道

在整个 2024 年，Horizen Labs 团队和 Horizen 贡献者参加了许多不同的采访、播客、思想领导力文章等！

以下是今年的一些最佳作品：

社区 AMA 和播客

Horizen 的未来：ZK Apps 的下一代 EVM 的 AMA

Rob Viglione – House of ZK 电台节目

与 Rob Viglione 就 ZK 的所有事宜进行加密预言机通话

zkTalk 1 与 Gevulot – Horizen Labs 的 John Camardo 讨论了 Horizen 和 ZK 以及其他事项。 

绝对零知识播客第 11 集，由 Horizen 联合创始人 Robert Viglione 主持

更快更便宜的证明验证将如何促进 ZK 的扩张？Rollupco 采访 Rob Viglione 和 John Camardo

新地平线品牌外观和感觉流

媒体与思想领导力

StealthEX 关于 Horizen、Horizen Labs 和 zkVerify 的 AMA

zkTalk 与 Gevulot 讨论 zkVerify、zk Tech 和 Horizen

联合创始人 Rob Viglione 为 CoinMarketCap 词汇表撰写了“模块化验证证明”

联合创始人 Rob Viglione 在 Cointelegraph 的一篇文章中评论了基于区块链的选举的潜力

利用 ZK 克服障碍

Rob Viglione – 加密货币塑造全球经济 

Rolf Versluis 的 zkVM 基准测试标准小组

Rob Viglione 谈 AI 模型

什么是数据完整性？为什么它如此重要？

展望 2025 年：Horizen 的新时代

2025 年对于 Horizen 来说将是开创性的一年！

激励性公共测试网

今年第一季度，备受期待的 Horizen 2.0 激励性公共测试网将正式启动，让社区有机会参与、测试并提供反馈，为正式发布做好准备。除此之外，还将引入治理支持，让社区能够更加积极地参与塑造网络的未来。

Horizen 2.0 主网

在第二季度，我们正为 Horizen 2.0 主网的发布做准备，这是一个重要的里程碑，它将为扩展和去中心化开启新的可能性。

zkVerify 代币申领

此外，在第二季度，符合条件的 ZEN 持有者将在主网启动时被纳入 zkVerify 的预期初始代币供应量中。

Horizen 特别理事会选举

别忘了二月！我们很高兴地宣布 Horizen 特别理事会选举，7 个席位中有 4 个将进行选举。这是一个激动人心的机会，社区内的领导者可以站出来帮助指导 Horizen 的未来。如果您有兴趣了解有关这一重要举措的更多信息，请前往我们的公告：

  Horizen DAO 特别委员会将于 2 月 15 日投票——谁想出面？ Horizen 特别理事会由 7 人组成，他们为 Horizen DAO 提供安全保障。具体角色和职责如下： horizen.discourse.group

未来的旅程充满希望和进步。我们将携手并进，继续建设、创新，突破一切可能的界限。

敬请期待充满动感的一年——2025 年对于 Horizen 来说将是重要的一年！

The post Horizen 2024年年度复盘报告 appeared first on Horizen Blog.

Sui continues to earn new converts. Where is it headed next?

In an exit interview on CNBC, SEC Chair Gary Gensler described Bitcoin as a highly speculative asset but noted that 7 billion people want to trade it

Polygon has announced the launch of Season 2 of its Community Grants Program (CGP), offering a total of 35 million POL in funding for innovative projects

The latest $23M purchase makes Semler the twelfth largest public corporate BTC holder.

Circle's 2025 State of the USDC Economy Report reveals that the circulation of USD Coin (USDC) grew by 78% year-over-year in 2024, outpacing other major global stablecoins

Claims hundreds of companies will adopt the strategy over the next one and a half years.

Decentralized finance grew by 532% in 2024, while NFTs saw their worst year since 2020.

The peer-to-peer lending layer is experiencing a surge in active users and active loans.

Throughout the years, there were many attempts of tapping into Bitcoin’s liquidity and security, but almost all of them came with different caveats. Most notably, wrapped BTC (wBTC) depended on the wrapper contract security. However, the recent surge in research and development for native solutions has led to breakthroughs previously thought impossible. Babylon launched native BTC staking and plans to further expand this to secure other blockchains, in a model similar to that of mesh security. This would not only help secure other networks, but it would also unlock liquidity from the mother chain through liquid staking derivatives.

Topics covered in this episode:

David’s background The evolution of Babylon The Bitcoin Renaissance Technical challenges of implementing Bitcoin staking The OP_CAT upgrade Babylon’s Bitcoin staking & Bitcoin-secured networks Bridging liquidity & LSTs Securing multiple chains and slashing Babylon chain - aggregating Bitcoin-secured networks Could Bitcoin become a POS chain? Babylon upgradeability

Episode links:

David Tse on X Babylon on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.

Bitcoin led the charge with a 5% rally, while Ethereum, XRP, and Solana also posted gains of 5% to 10%.

Soneium’s restrictions on its launch day spark debate over intellectual property enforcement and decentralization.

Building a Stronger PIVX Through Ethical Governance

Trailing my previous article on the “Ethical Responsibility” of voters within the PIVX ecosystem, I’d be rounding up this series by exploring how a stronger community can be built through ethical governance. When done right, decentralized governance has the potential to foster greater social and economic equity, whilst empowering individuals and communities.

Beyond cutting-edge technology, the long-term success of PIVX hinges on responsible decision-making that prioritizes the collective good. This encompasses a wide range of principles, such as transparency and accountability, community engagement, as well as and inclusivity. We’d consider each of these principles individually.

Community Engagement

In my opinion, the first point of call for ethical governance is community engagement. Both old and new members should be kept up to speed on the development of the project. There should also be a free flow of information between masternode operators (MNOs), initiators of proposals, and other participants within the network.

Although masternode operators have the final say when approving governance proposals, every member of the PIVX community has a voice. The idea of ethical governance cuts across board, housing both masternodes and non-masternodes.

PIVX already thrives on the active participation of its community. Robust communication channels, such as forums and social media groups should be fully utilized to foster open dialogue and encourage community feedback on all governance proposals.

Transparency and Accountability

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) lose steam and ultimately die when there is no transparency or accountability. Trust is corroded when decision-making processes are shrouded in secrecy. This creates an environment ripe for abuse and voter apathy.

Ethical governance demands accountability from those who receive funding. Audits and financial reports should be publicly available to ensure transparency and accountability.

Fairness and Inclusivity

I’d have to give it to PIVX on this one. From experience, all members of the PIVX community have equal opportunities to participate in governance. There’s a caveat though — new members may have to prove their expertise before their proposals are approved.

The principle of fairness and inclusivity demands that everyone should be given a chance to contribute. However, measures should be taken to prevent the concentration of power and ensure that the voices of all stakeholders are heard.

Maintaining a friendly and welcoming community atmosphere is crucial for fostering collaboration and innovation. Open and respectful dialogue, even when disagreements arise, is essential for healthy governance.

In conclusion, ethical governance is a collective responsibility and the PIVX community can actively contribute to building a stronger governance framework by actively participating in community discussions and governance proposals, providing constructive feedback and offering thoughtful suggestions, and educating themselves on the technical and economic aspects of the PIVX ecosystem.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

Building a Stronger PIVX Through Ethical Governance was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

JPMorgan Chase has forecasted that exchange-traded products (ETPs) for Solana and XRP could attract between $3 billion and $8 billion in net inflows if approved by the SEC

On January 14, 2025, the governments of Japan, the United States, and South Korea issued a joint statement addressing the issue of cryptocurrency theft attributed to North Korea

The Bank of England (BOE) has announced that no decision has been made regarding the implementation of a digital pound

Bitcoin's price has experienced a notable recovery, surpassing $97,000 as of January 14, 2025

Spot Bitcoin ETFs surpassed $105 billion in net assets in 2024, fueled by institutional adoption and growing investor confidence in digital assets.

Saylor’s software company has acquired an additional 2,530 BTC, pushing its reserves above $43 billion.

The acquisition strengthens MoonPay’s position in the Web3 space and broadens its suite of crypto payment services.

Mango Markets will close its operations effective Jan. 13 following an SEC settlement for selling unregistered tokens.

在隐私、安全和效率日益重要的世界里，零知识证明（ZKP）正在成为一项革命性的技术，有可能改变我们的数字生活。

ZKP 不仅仅是一个小众加密概念——它们有可能改变我们在线互动、处理敏感数据和在数字经济中交易的方式。

什么是零知识证明？

零知识证明是一种加密技术，允许一方（“证明者”）向另一方（“验证者”）证明某个陈述是真实的，而不会透露除了该陈述本身的真实性之外的任何其他信息。

这里有一个简单的类比：假设你知道一个复杂谜题的答案。零知识证明可以让你向某人证明你已经解决了这个谜题，而无需向他们展示你是如何做到的。

ZKP 既能保证隐私性，又能保证准确性。它们可用于验证身份、交易或计算，而无需暴露任何底层数据。

零知识证明如何改变世界

尽管听起来很抽象，但 ZKP 已经在各个领域进入实际应用。让我们探索 ZKP 的一些关键应用领域，以及它们如何直接影响您的生活。

财务隐私和安全

ZKP 正在改变金融交易的开展方式。区块链和加密货币经常被批评为过于透明或过于私密，现在可以使用 ZKP 实现平衡。

保密交易： ZKP 可实现私密交易，隐藏金额和参与者，同时确保交易有效。该技术已在 Zcash 等注重隐私的加密货币中使用。

防欺诈： ZKP 可以在不暴露敏感个人信息的情况下验证用户身份或账户余额，从而降低欺诈风险。对于个人而言，这意味着您可以安全、私密地进行交易，而不必担心您的财务信息被泄露。

彩票和游戏的可验证随机性

ZKP 正在重新定义依赖随机性的系统（如彩票、抽奖和在线游戏）的公平性。在传统系统中，随机性是在幕后生成的，需要用户信任系统运营商。

ZKP 可实现可验证的随机性，从而允许系统：

证明彩票或抽奖的结果是公平产生的，并且不存在任何操纵。

确保在线游戏不存在偏见，同时保护玩家数据的私密性。

Web3 游戏启动板Trailblaze使用零知识验证协议 zkVerify 构建了支持 ZK 的抽奖游戏，以提供可验证的随机性并确保公平的游戏结果。

私密且可验证的投票

选举和投票系统在保持透明度的同时保护选民隐私方面面临挑战。ZKP 通过实现安全、匿名和可验证的投票流程提供了解决方案。

通过 ZKP，选民可以：

私下投票，不透露他们的选择。

核实他们的投票是否被正确计算，确保透明度而不损害匿名性。

随着最近美国大选的到来，一些选民表示他们对投票过程没有信心。我们相信ZKP 可以恢复这种信任。

无需过度分享即可进行身份验证

在当今的数字时代，证明您的身份通常需要分享过多的个人信息。例如，在验证您的年龄时，您可能必须分享您的整个身份证件 – 即使验证者只需要知道您是否年满 18 岁。

ZKP 解决了这个问题，它允许您证明具体的细节而不泄露不必要的数据。

零知识证明的未来

随着零知识证明的不断发展，其应用将进一步扩展到供应链透明度、物联网安全和人工智能 (AI) 等领域。特别是，零知识证明有可能通过充当强大的验证技术彻底改变我们使用和信任 AI 系统的方式。

对人工智能的影响：

模型和数据验证： ZKP 可以让 AI 开发人员证明他们的模型是在合乎道德的、公正的数据集上训练的，而无需暴露数据集本身。

决策验证：随着人工智能越来越多地做出影响我们生活的决策（例如在招聘、贷款或法律判决方面），ZKP 可以验证人工智能决策是否基于公平合规的逻辑，而不会暴露专有算法或敏感输入。

身份验证和所有权： ZKP 可以验证 AI 生成内容的所有权或确认 AI 系统输出的真实性，而无需共享模型的内部工作原理。

想象这样一个世界：

人工智能系统无需暴露敏感数据或专有算法即可证明其完整性和公平性。

您可以验证生成式人工智能是否以合乎道德的方式生成了内容，而无需访问其整个训练历史记录。

组织可以确保其 AI 工作流程遵守数据隐私法，而不会牺牲创新。

ZKP 将在建立对 AI 的信任方面发挥关键作用，尤其是当这些系统成为我们日常生活不可或缺的一部分时。通过在不损害隐私的情况下实现可验证的信任，ZKP 可以弥合 AI 技术透明度与创新之间的差距。

想象一下这样一个未来：得益于零知识证明的力量，隐私、透明度和安全性将无缝融入到我们生活的方方面面。

在Horizen，我们致力于创新和推动 ZKP 成为现实，使个人和组织能够拥抱更安全、更私密、更分散的数字世界。Horizen 致力于推进 ZKP 技术，确保这一变革性未来不仅是一种可能性，而且是重塑我们与数据、系统和彼此交互方式的必然里程碑。

The post Zk零知识证明将如何塑造我们的数字未来 appeared first on Horizen Blog.

The leading prediction market may be planning a return to the U.S., but in Singapore, it has been declared an illegal gambling site.

On the Bankless podcast, we dig into questions about the quantum doomsday for Bitcoin.

Natural disasters can impact your self-custodied crypto holdings; take action.

Tokens at the intersection of AI and crypto are the worst performers in crypto today.

The founders said it was an impulsive mistake and that they have repurchased the AICC tokens.

The "State of Web3 Adoption Report 2025" reveals a 202% increase in daily crypto users over the past year.

Coinbase has secured a partial victory against the SEC

The 2024 Centralized Exchange (CEX) Annual Report indicates a surge in crypto trading volumes, with spot trading increasing by 139% and derivatives trading rising by 91% compared to 2023

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with $11.5 trillion in assets, has reported that the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is outpacing that of the internet and mobile phones.

The next big NFT-centric airdrop is coming to the Azuki community via $ANIME. Here's everything you need to know.

The British Virgin Islands-based stablecoin issuer is relocating to the Central American nation that was the first to have a national bitcoin treasury.

The NFT project will release its flagship token sometime before the end of January, with 50.5% of the supply airdropped to the community.

In 2025, corporate demand for Bitcoin is reportedly outpacing new supply, according to multiple sources including Bitwise

A stronger U.S. labor market fuels risk-off sentiment, leading to a broad sell-off in the crypto market.

The lending platform’s active loan count is back above the $100 million mark after recovering from its 2023 hack.

Hyperfy's new v2 release is a taste of the metaverse to come.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged three Russian citizens with money laundering for their involvement in operating cryptocurrency mixing services

Weekly Recap: Crypto fights market jitters pre-inauguration while Hyperliquid quells concerns about centralization.

New Hampshire State Representative Keith Ammon has introduced a bill to establish a 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' in the state

Biden admin regulators go after MetaMask and other wallet providers.

It has also purchased USDx stablecoin in bulk to allow users to redeem their tokens for USDe.

The list features a diverse range of crypto assets, from AI agent tokens to DePIN and DEX tokens.

The Trump Bitcoin Digital Trading Cards are only available to holders of 100 of his Mugshot Edition NFTs.

Unpacking the latest buzzy sector in the fast-evolving crypto AI agent space.

MicroStrategy shareholders have been granted the opportunity to vote on a proposal to increase the number of shares for the purpose of acquiring additional Bitcoin

Crypto asset staking providers set to win big with proposed amendment.

World, formerly Worldcoin, has surpassed a major progress milestone.

The initiative will mainly focus on tokenized deposits with the Hong Kong Central Bank.

Kenya is moving forward with plans to legalize cryptocurrencies, as announced by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi

James Howells' attempt to excavate a landfill for a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin is halted.

Users have been minting USD0++ for $1, but the team manually restructured the asset's floor price to $0.87.

Experts are concerned that stronger-than-expected job growth and slower wage inflation could prompt the Fed to keep rates high.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Jan 3rd, 2025 — Jan 10th, 2025)

Stay informed with the latest PIVX news. This weekly update covers recent price action, explores exciting project advancements, and highlights key community developments.

Top Stories Trading Live on Poloniex: The PIVX/USDT trading pair has set sail on the Poloniex exchange. Daily trading volumes have already exceeded $250,000, with Wednesday witnessing a surge surpassing $520,000. Deposits and withdrawals are also fully operational, ensuring a seamless journey for all PIVX navigators. 20x Perpetual on XT.com: Along with the Poloniex listing, PIVX commenced the year with the introduction of 20x leverage trading on XT.com. As of press time, XT.com had become the largest perpetual market for PIVX, with volume surpassing both WEEX and MEXC combined. Price Actions The Daily USD Value for PIVX ranged between $0.29 and $0.34, with an Average USD price of $0.32. The Daily Trading Volume for PIVX ranged between $2.76M and $5.45M, with an Average Daily Volume of $3.7M. The total transactional volume for the past week was approximately $26 million.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Jan 3rd, 2025 — Jan 10th, 2025) was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

56% of participants said the election of Donald Trump made them more likely to buy crypto for clients.

The outgoing chairman of the SEC had a much more hostile view of crypto than his counterpart at the CFTC.

The tokenized treasury product was used as collateral in a basis trade via QCP, yielding an 18% APY.

Raydium Protocol, a Solana-based decentralized finance platform, has launched its beta version of perpetual futures trading

The Aptos Network has successfully integrated Chainlink Data Feeds into its mainnet, enhancing decentralized application (dApp) development

Eliza Labs, in collaboration with Origin Trail, has introduced a new feature for AI agents powered by the Eliza OS, enabling them to grow and access their memories through a Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG)

Starpower, a decentralized energy network startup, has successfully raised $2.5M

MANTRA, a blockchain platform focused on real-world assets (RWAs), has entered into a $1 billion deal with Dubai-based property conglomerate DAMAC Group to tokenize at least $1 billion of the firm's assets in the UAE

It's time to tap into this app favored by DeFi pros.

A move to include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin in its proposed reserves highlights the city’s commitment to blockchain technology.

Representative Bryan Steil has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence within the House Financial Services Committee

A recent survey conducted by Bitwise Asset Management and VettaFi reveals a notable shift in the attitudes of financial advisors towards cryptocurrency

InfiniPass holders and vaults will get 17% of the airdrop.

The CFTC isn't done with its war on predictions market platforms.

Exodus, a cryptocurrency wallet developer, has officially uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) American, making it the first crypto wallet to be publicly traded

The stablecoin giant joins Ripple and Coinbase in donating to the organization.

The Terra founder faces up to 130 years in prison.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has expressed a strong preference for Bitcoin over gold, stating that he believes Bitcoin holds more value, particularly in times of economic uncertainty

The cryptocurrency industry is actively lobbying President Donald Trump to issue an executive order within his first 100 days in office to establish a U.S. Bitcoin Reserve.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies continue to decline, with market liquidation reaching $404 million in 24 hours.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a subpoena to Coinbase

AI memecoin $AIXBT, associated with the AI agent @aixbt_agent, has been officially listed for spot trading on Bybit

In this episode, Substack cofounder and CEO Chris Best joins a16z General Partner Andrew Chen to discuss the origins and evolution of Substack, a platform redefining media and empowering creators to connect directly with their audiences. They dive into how Substack’s early days led to over 3 million paid subscribers, why creators are moving away from traditional platforms to establish direct connections with their audiences, and how the future of media in the AI era is reshaping opportunities for writers, podcasters, and video creators.

From Chris’s lessons scaling Kik Messaging to Substack’s profound impact on the creator economy, this conversation shares insights on building platforms, culture, and opportunity in the modern era.

 

Resources: 

Find Chris on Substack: https://cb.substack.com/

Find Andrew Chen on Substack: https://andrewchen.substack.com/

 

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

This post was written by Shivan Kaul Sahib (Lead for Privacy Engineering).

Brave provides best-in-class privacy protections, including robust third-party ad and tracker blocking. As demand for privacy grows, more websites have emerged to compare web browsers and extensions. While some of these comparison tools, such as https://privacytests.org and https://coveryourtracks.eff.org, are valuable resources for privacy-conscious users, others can be significantly flawed. This post explores how some adblocking test websites—those that claim to assess adblocker effectiveness—fall short due to poor testing methodology, and even harm the ad and tracker blocking ecosystem through misleading results.

The problem with adblocker testing websites

Adblocker testing sites can be misleading—or even harmful—for a number of reasons. We’ve outlined the four major issues below.

Low-quality tests

First, the quality of these test websites is generally low. While well-intentioned, many adblocking test websites check for blocked domains that are non-existent or not even used for advertising or tracking. Additionally, there is often no—or poor—justification provided for why a particular test exists.

For example, consider a test website that checks whether your adblocker blocks HTML elements with specific class names, such as .box.banner_ads.adsbox. Most testing sites will provide no rationale for why an adblocker should block these elements. It is possible that adblockers have identified more effective selectors to block actual ad-serving elements, but without a clear explanation for the test’s criteria, it’s impossible to evaluate its validity. Essentially, the test arbitrarily checks for blocked elements without any justification for why they should be targeted by any reasonable adblocker.

Savvy users could easily add a custom filter (such as ##.box.banner_ads.adsbox)to adblockers like Brave to artificially pass these tests. However, doing so would provide no tangible benefit, and create unnecessary rules that could inadvertently break websites. Testing, if done carelessly and erroneously, does more harm than good to privacy tools, and ultimately, users.

Tests often do not emulate real-world blocking

Testing websites often fail to emulate real-world ad delivery and tracking practices. For example, some will issue network requests to base domains without specifying full URL paths, and expect them to be blocked, as pointed out by a filter list maintainer. This approach does not reflect how trackers or ad servers operate in practice. Adblock maintainers carefully craft their rules to create the minimum required blocking to avoid breaking website functionality—a nuance these tests ignore entirely.

Tests ignore advanced protective capabilities

Advanced adblocking capabilities, such as resource replacement, are often overlooked in these tests. Resource replacement refers to how adblockers specify replacing a known tracking script with an innocuous version of the script. This is useful for preserving website behavior while still blocking the privacy-harmful script. Because these features aren’t easily measurable by simple network request tests, they’re excluded from a testing website’s scoring mechanism, which can lead to underreporting of an adblocker’s true effectiveness.

Tests cannot account for domain-specific rules

To reduce the risk of website breakage, adblockers often use domain-specific rules (rules that only apply on a particular website) rather than generic rules that apply on all websites. For example, a request to usertrack.js on the website search.com might be something that an adblocker wants to block, because it knows that that usertrack.js on that website is used for cross-site tracking. However, on a different website like shoes.com, a script named usertrack.js could be a legitimate script used for keeping track of user preferences like night mode or theme. Test websites cannot test for this nuance because their evaluations are confined to their own domain. Thus a simple overlap in script naming could lead to scoring mistakes.

Why testing websites can be misleading for users

Fundamentally, these tests are unable to differentiate between adblockers effectively. Most adblockers rely on the same community-maintained filter lists for their blocking rules, with minor deviations. Brave, for instance, directly supports and maintains the well-regarded EasyList projects, and publishes research and techniques related to ad and tracker blocking. This shared foundation allows filter list maintainers to work together and adapt quickly, especially against well-resourced advertising and tracking companies.

This means that testing websites that naively measure “is your adblocker blocking requests to tracker.com?” have limited value, since the underlying rules are mostly the same across major adblockers. Worse, these tests encourage adblockers to manipulate results to avoid misleading users. Both uBlock Origin and AdGuard, two major adblockers, have added workarounds to pass tests (uBO workaround, AdGuard workaround) so as to avoid confusing and alarming their users.

Brave has actively reached out to—and attempted to help—the authors of many test websites to improve their tests in the past (here are just a few examples), but we’ve had to deprioritize such efforts due to fundamental issues in the testing methodology (as described in this post) and the fact that low-quality tests continue to be added.

How adblockers should be measured against one another

Adblockers should (and often do) differentiate themselves in areas like extension-based vs native support, performance, advanced adblocking features, and ethical practices. It’s these differentiators that adblock comparison sites—and users—should focus on.

Extension-based vs. native support

With Google’s Manifest V2 deprecation, adblocking Web extensions face existential threats to their capabilities. At the very least, Manifest V3 severely hamstrings adblocking extensions by imposing a cap on blocking rules and banning background pages while requiring service workers. Brave’s Rust-based adblocking engine, integrated directly into the browser and not dependent on any extensions, remains unaffected by anything Google might require for extensions. This ensures that Brave Shields will continue to offer a superior ad and tracker blocking experience.  Brave will even support some Manifest V2 extensions that users might want to use in the interim before fully switching to Brave Shields as their main adblocker.

Performance

Efficient matching algorithms ensure minimal impact on browsing speed and system resources while blocking ads and trackers. Brave’s Rust-based adblocking engine is built into the browser, thus allowing us to make deep changes in both the browser and the adblocking code which ensures best blocking results and maximum flexibility. We’re actively working on improving our engine’s performance especially as it relates to memory usage.

Advanced adblocking capabilities

Brave constantly ships new adblock features like procedural cosmetic filtering, which allows for fine-grained control over ad and tracker blocking, and to expand the kind of ads we can block for our users.

Ethics

Unlike extensions that participate in “pay-to-play” programs, Brave does not accept payments to unblock certain advertisers or trackers. This ensures that user privacy and experience remain top priority.

In general, adblock tests do more harm than good

We applaud the intention behind these adblocker testing websites. The online third-party based advertising and tracking ecosystem has metastasized to a point that even US intelligence agencies use adblockers internally to counter the threat of malvertising. Brave has been outspoken in its condemnation of third-party advertising and has proposed alternatives like Brave Ads that prioritize the user, not ad-tech third parties. But while well-intentioned, adblocking testing websites currently do more harm than good.  By promoting arbitrary and low-quality metrics, these tests mislead users, force adblockers to adopt unnecessary workarounds, and detract from meaningful advancements in the field.

In addition, while adblockers are a crucial tool, privacy-focused browsers like Brave can protect users in ways that standalone adblockers cannot. Read our privacy updates blog for more details on how Brave ships privacy features to protect and enhance your Web browsing experience. Brave will continue to work with legitimate testing sites like https://privacytests.org and https://coveryourtracks.eff.org and with the larger open source filter list and adblock communities. It’s only through a consistent testing methodology and agreed-on sets of common privacy harms that we’ll be able to improve Web privacy for all users.

How Decentralized Science teams are gearing up to tackle moonshot challenges through onchain coordination.

Gensler criticized the crypto space as one 'rife with bad actors.'

South Korea's Financial Services Commission takes a positive step forward.

The deal tasks the startup's team with accelerating Coinbase's consumer onchain efforts.

Wayfinder is an AI tool with a highly-anticipated upcoming token launch. Here's everything you need to know.

Partnering with Gridware: Protect the Grid of Tomorrow

Tim, Hall, Omar and their team are giving utilities unprecedented insight—and reducing incidents that cost money and lives.

By Bryan Schreier and Charlie Curnin Published January 8, 2025 Gridware co-founders A Bin Omar, Tim Barat and Hall Chen.

A utility pole topples over, spilling live wires into a family’s backyard. A tree branch falls on a power line and starts to burn. A wind storm scatters electric lines across a busy street. 

Today, incidents like these cause problems ranging from inconvenience to forest fires and lost lives.  And the costs of even minor outages add up, with an estimated $150 billion lost in the United States each year. But the grid of tomorrow can address these issues quickly and safely—and in many cases, avoid them altogether. 

The U.S. electric grid currently includes about 200 million electric poles. It has more than five million miles of distribution lines. It’s worth something like $1.5 trillion. And, thanks to the nearly 600,000 people who keep it running, it makes practically everything work. Already, the grid provides the power that lets us access the internet and keeps HVAC and medical devices running at home, and enables businesses to take orders and serve customers—and it’s only becoming more critical as the U.S. economy continues its shift to electric power. But what do we do when the grid goes down?

That’s the problem Gridware co-founder Tim Barat has been thinking about since he was a teenager. 

Tim started working in electric infrastructure at 15, when he dropped out of high school to become a linesman in Australia. He saw the risks of the work firsthand, losing colleagues who put their lives on the line to fix power lines. Tim went on to study electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley, where he met co-founders Hall Chen and A Bin Omar. Together, they realized that the outages, wildfires and other risks we associate with electric infrastructure are actually symptoms of a larger problem: utilities don’t have the observability they need. The grid is like a $1.5-trillion car that’s missing a “check engine” light. 

When something goes wrong—when high winds or a fallen tree knock down a power line, or a car clips a pole—most utilities can’t identify and locate the problem without time-consuming, and often dangerous, manual inspections. Crews are forced to either patrol in hazardous weather or wait until storms pass, and delays can be the difference between a non-event and a disaster.

But what if providers could instead gather that information in real-time, tracking and even predicting the health of the grid based on direct measurements from each asset? That’s Gridware: the instrumentation layer for the grid. Their sensors and analytics suite constantly monitor poles, lines, and transformers—even when the power is out—to detect issues as they happen and help utilities respond precisely and efficiently. In many cases, Gridware can even stop issues before they start, catching leaning poles and trees smoldering on energized wires. “If this had not been reported or dispatched,” a customer said about one discovery, “It would have surely caused a forest fire.”

After launching in 2020, Gridware is now working with some of the country’s largest utilities to help them monitor their infrastructure—and the results speak for themselves. In one northern California circuit, outage patrol times are down by 70%. Another midwest utility reported saving 400,000 outage minutes across four circuits, recouping the costs of deploying Gridware after a single event.

We at Sequoia are delighted to be in business with Gridware, and to support their growth by leading their Series A. The electric grid is worth protecting, and we look forward to a future of fewer outages and more reliability thanks to Tim, Hall, Omar and their team.

Share Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this via email Related Topics #Enterprise #Funding announcement Partnering with Clipboard: Taking Care of Caregivers News Read Partnering with rift: Sales, simplified. By Stephanie Zhan and Charlie Curnin News Read Commons’ Sanchali Pal Is Putting Climate Action in Your Pocket Spotlight Read Partnering with Harvey: Putting LLMs to Work By Pat Grady and Charlie Curnin News Read JOIN OUR MAILING LIST Get the best stories from the Sequoia community. Email address Leave this field empty if you’re human:

The post Partnering with Gridware: Protect the Grid of Tomorrow appeared first on Sequoia Capital.

Fellow Panthers, 

December marked another milestone month for Panther, featuring strategic partnerships, significant technological advancements, and increased visibility within the broader DeFi community through notable media appearances.

Read on below to learn about what happened in December: 

Ecosystem Updates

Key partnerships were announced in Panther’s ecosystem, including with prospective Zone Managers and important media, research, and KOL outlets. 

The Panther Protocol Foundation (PPF) announced agreements with two prospective Zone Managers, who, if successful, will operate their own logical confidential transaction partitions within Panther’s Shielded Pool. As part of the agreements, both parties will explore community building opportunities to promote these Zones and their transformative potential in the DeFi space.

Eurobit

PPF announced its partnership with Eurobit, a Spanish crypto exchange and Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP). Under the agreement, Eurobit will apply to operate a dedicated Zone within Panther’s Shielded Pool. If successful, Eurobit would oversee end-to-end compliance within the Zone, including KYC/KYT processes, user allowlisting, and transaction limits, allowing its users to benefit from Panther’s Privacy-Enhancing technology (PET). 

PureFi

Additionally, PPF entered into an agreement with PureFi, a KYC/KYT solutions provider for DeFi. This agreement expands on its existing role as an official Panther compliance partner also to include applying to operate its own Zone. If successful, PureFi would be poised to introduce enterprise users, including asset managers and institutions, to PET. This partnership leverages PureFi’s already-integrated compliance technology, strengthening a robust relationship and setting the stage for more secure and accessible DeFi services.

Messari 

To further raise awareness among key demographics including prospective Zone Managers and high-end investors, Panther commissioned an independent report from Messari, a leading research and analysis platform. Published in late December, the report is a deep-dive into the technology, features, and functionality of the Panther platform, offering detailed insights into features like the UTXO model, zAssets, Zone Managers, and more. Messari reaches a subscriber base of over 350K and is distributed to over 740k users worldwide via Refinitiv, Bloomberg Terminal, AlphaSense and S&P Global Capital IQ. 

The Street

Panther entered into a partnership with the Street, a popular financial publication with extensive crypto coverage, reaching 35M+ investors monthly. This collaboration provides access to their extensive network of influential KOLs who reach nearly 10M followers per week, as well as to their advertising network. The Street’s audience aligns well with ongoing efforts to attract more prospective Zone Managers, partners and users. The partnership kicked off in December, with resulting coverage to begin in 2025.

Technical Progress

December was a productive month for Panther Protocol’s technical development, with efforts focused on refining V1 and preparing for future updates. Following the completion of external testing, the team worked on addressing issues identified during quality assurance and audits, ensuring a stable and reliable foundation for the platform.

Development on V1.1 progressed steadily while planning for future iterations, including V1.2 and V1.3, also began. 

Panther contributors continued refining technical requirements to support Zone Managers, whose role is integral to Panther’s compliance tools and confidentiality-enhancing framework. 

Additionally, progress was made toward the planning of the forthcoming Canary Network (to be owned and operated by the forthcoming Swiss-based Panther Protocol Foundation), which will enable controlled testing of real assets and exploration of innovative features to strengthen the protocol further. The new, Swiss-based foundation is expected to provide more details about the Canary Network, including how to participate, in the near future. 

Important announcements about Panther’s V1 technical development, with much of the work taking place in December, are also coming in early 2025, so stay tuned. 

Panther in the Media

In December, Panther actively engaged with the media to raise awareness.

Panther was interviewed by Web3 TV to discuss the importance of privacy in DeFi. Co-Founder Dr. Anish Mohammed highlighted how selective disclosures can empower users while supporting the broader adoption of crypto technologies. Panther was also a featured interview on Market Movers on Fintech.TV, where co-founder Oliver Gale shared insights into how PETs are critical for building trust and driving institutional participation in DeFi.

In addition to these appearances, Dr. Mohammed represented Panther as it was  featured in AI Business, examining the privacy risks that emerge as AI becomes more accessible. Panther was interviewed in December by outlets including Cointelegraph, Sky News Arabia, Bitcoin Magazine, and CNBC Arabia. These features, which are still to be published, are expected to provide additional visibility for Panther’s solutions and vision.

The recently released report by Messari, mentioned above, continues to draw attention. This independent analysis offers an in-depth look at Panther’s technology, including the UTXO model, zAssets, and Zone Managers, providing valuable insights for industry professionals, prospective Zone Managers, and partners.

Conclusion

Panther Protocol achieved significant milestones in December across multiple fronts, solidifying its position in the DeFi ecosystem. The launch of partnerships with prospective Zone Managers Eurobit and PureFi is an important step towards the protocol’s real-world application. With technical development progressing steadily, increased media coverage, and an independent Messari analysis being published, Panther continues to build momentum in its mission to bring compliant privacy solutions to DeFi.

The DeFi landscape has significantly evolved since 2018 when Chainlink was launched. Recent developments such as L2 rollups, liquid staking, restaking and the rise of BTC DeFi have created huge demand for more customizable, modular oracles that would be able to provide accurate data for countless use cases, crosschain. RedStone set out to do exactly that and are now securing over $6.6 bn worth of assets (1000+ assets), across more than 60 chains, without a single mispricing event.

Topics covered in this episode:

Marcin’s background Early oracle landscape RedStone’s technical architecture Network incentives Data aggregation module Node operator module Push vs. Pull oracles RedStone’s business model The role of RedStone token Pyth vs. RedStone Restaking Oracle extractable value Synergies between oracles and institutional investors

Episode links:

Marcin Kazmierczak on X RedStone on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

Chances are that you’ve seen or heard the word “SHIELD” countless times within the PIVX ecosystem. It is often touted as “the world’s first zk-SNARK-based privacy protocol on a Proof of Stake blockchain.” Without further ado, here’s all you need to know about PIVX’s custom adaptation of the popular zk-SNARK Sapling protocol — SHIELD.

But first, a little clarification…

Are Cryptocurrencies Private?

While you may have been led to believe that traditional cryptocurrency transactions are private, the reality is quite the opposite. Yes, they offer transparency and immutability but user privacy is generally left unprotected.

Blockchain transactions on networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum are recorded on a public ledger, revealing the sender and receiver addresses, transaction amounts, and timestamps. They are pseudo-anonymous, not private.

This lack of privacy can expose individuals to potential risks such as surveillance and tracking from government agencies and malicious actors, as well as targeted attacks. For instance, a popular Pakistani crypto trader was recently kidnapped by a five-man gang and forced to transfer $340,000.

So, you could try to obfuscate a transaction by shuffling the funds through multiple addresses but at the end of the funds can still be traced from one person to another.

What is zk-SNARK?

Short for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge, zk-SNARK is a powerful cryptographic technique that allows one party (the prover) to prove to another party (the verifier) that a certain statement is true, without revealing any information beyond the truth of the statement itself.

Although real zk-SNARK use advanced math and are much more complex., here’s an example to simplify how it works. Imagine you have a secret code to open a locked door and you want to prove to someone that you know the code without actually telling them what it is.

Traditionally, you could open the door in front of them, showing you know the code. But then they know the code too. However, using zk-SNARK, you could use a special trick that allows you to prove you know the code without revealing it. One option could be showing them a hidden switch that only someone with the code can find. Alternatively, you could use a special key that only works with the correct code, without showing them the code itself. In summary, zk-SNARK lets you prove you know something secret without giving away the secret.

PIVX SHIELD

SHIELD is a custom implementation of zk-SNARK. Custom in the sense that PIVX was the first proof-of-stake blockchain to adopt the protocol. Over the years, PIVX has transitioned from coin-join to Zerocoin protocol in 2018, and finally SHIELD in late 2020.

One of the keywords in zk-SNARK is “zero-knowledge,” meaning there is no data to decrypt in the first place. Put differently, SHIELD does not involve encrypted information that could one day be decrypted to reveal the identities of the sender or recipient.

When a user initiates a shielded transaction, their PIVX coins are converted into “shielded” coins. These shielded coins are represented by cryptographic proofs that verify their existence and ownership without revealing any underlying information.

The recipient of the shielded transaction can then “unshield” the coins, converting them back into transparent coins or spend them on PIVX-native platforms like PIVCards.

SHIELD transactions enhance privacy by concealing the sender, recipient, and transaction amount. These transactions are processed efficiently, minimizing delays and ensuring a smooth user experience. Notably, SHIELD utilizes lightweight proofs, occupying only 144 bytes, which can be generated quickly even on devices with limited processing power, such as a Raspberry Pi.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

What is PIVX SHIELD? was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Former FTX and Alameda employees buy back the EU arm of the defunct exchange.

There are other places to track down AI agents than Twitter.

2024 in Review

2024 has been a transformative year for Panther, as its contributors worked to bring its vision of confidential DeFi transactions to life. Panther has achieved key milestones through a structured, multi-stage testnet program, engaging over 3,500 testers to refine its features and ensure seamless functionality for users and Zone Managers. 

In addition to completing the external testnet, 2024 also saw significant ecosystem growth, including partnerships that announced candidates to become the platform’s first Zone Managers. 2024 also saw a marked increase in media coverage for Panther across multiple platforms including key industry publications, major podcasts and more. 

This blog highlights Panther's key milestones and achievements in 2024.

Technical Progress: Testnet Updates by Stage

In 2024, Panther Protocol contributors worked to complete the features required for V1 of the protocol, with community involvement playing a critical role in refining these features. Over 3,500 testers participated in shaping the protocol, providing essential feedback throughout the process. We want to express our sincere gratitude to our test community.

The V1 of Panther Protocol will introduce robust capabilities for both users and Zone Managers that were featured in the testnet program, which included Panther’s Shielded Pool, zAssets, confidentiality-enhanced transfers, gasless transactions (where applicable), options to choose between faster or more cost-efficient transaction processing and  privacy-enhanced DeFi zSwaps on platforms like Uniswap and QuickSwap; as well as Zone Manager features like advanced Anti-Money Laundering (AML) tools, inclusive of KYC/KYB/KYT and mechanisms to disclose information as needed (for compliance).

A recap of 2024's testnet stages and their major feature updates follow: 

Testnet Update Highlights

Swap Functionality, Stage 7

Stage 3: Introducing zAssets

Stage 3 marked a critical milestone with the introduction of zAssets within Panther’s Shielded Pool. This feature allowed testers to deposit test assets and receive test zAssets that can be tested within the Shielded Pool. Enhanced circuit security was also implemented, focusing on KYC/KYT mechanisms to ensure safer and more reliable interactions. The user interface received significant updates to improve accessibility and ease of use, making the protocol more intuitive for testers.

Stage 4: Enabling Transfers and Withdrawals

In Stage 4, testers gained the ability to test confidentiality-enhanced transfers within the Shielded Pool and test withdrawing assets securely to external wallets. Additional features in this stage included the integration of KYT verification, which, when live, can be used to help Zone Managers to ensure regulatory alignment. This stage provided a major step toward seamless user transactions within Panther’s ecosystem.

Stage 5: Introducing Gasless Transactions

Stage 5 introduced gasless transactions by integrating third-party bundler services to the testnet. Once the protocol is live, this will allow users to execute transactions without requiring native gas fees, where applicable. In Stage 5 of the testnet, the “Taxi” mode for UTXO processing was also unveiled, which will enable users to choose between faster transaction speeds or cost-efficiency, depending on their priorities.

Stage 6: Introduction of Fees and AMM Refilling

Stage 6 introduced fee collection mechanisms, critical to the platform's long-term ability to support its success and to maintain the platform. This included simulated protocol fees being deposited into the protocol’s AMM. It also included the addition of capabilities that would allow fee subsidization if desired.

Stage 7: Privacy-Enhanced DeFi Swaps

Stage 7 brought confidentiality-preserved DeFi zSwap capabilities through integrations with DeFi platforms such as Uniswap and QuickSwap. This feature enabled testers to conduct simulated privacy-enhanced swaps from within the Shielded Pool. This stage also saw the addition of Data Escrow, a critical function of the protocol for both privacy-preservation and proof of facts critical for compliance.

Stage 8: Scalability with Diamond Proxy Architecture

In Stage 8, Panther implemented Diamond Proxy architecture to overcome Ethereum’s size limitations. This innovation allows for more scalable smart contracts, which are crucial for the long-term viability of the platform. Blacklisting capabilities were also introduced that will help Zone Managers restrict access for bad actors and others who are not wanted on the platform. Transaction management also saw significant improvements in consolidating deposits into single UTXOs, boosting performance and usability.

Stage 9: Final Testnet Stage and Canary Network Preparations

The completion of external testing for Stage 9 marked the culmination of Panther’s testnet.  This stage set the groundwork for the upcoming Panther Protocol Foundation (PPF) Canary Network, which will serve as a critical proving ground for real-world applications of Panther’s privacy-enhancing and compliance-driven solutions. Stay tuned for more information about Panther’s Canary network in the weeks ahead. 

Disclaimer

For the avoidance of doubt any tokens mentioned in this announcement or within the product are for testing purposes only and have no economic value, nor can they be exchanged for value. 

Participation in our incentivized testnet versions may result in you earning rewards, but such credits are not represented on any blockchain as tokens.

Key Partnerships and Ecosystem Growth

In 2024, Panther's ecosystem established multiple strategic partnerships aligned with organizations that share its mission of providing users with confidential DeFi transactions. These agreements focused on teaming up with organizations that will play important roles in the Panther ecosystem, including prospective Zone Managers; as well as organizations with a shared vision for DeFi privacy who will help in raising awareness for the Panther platform among prospective Zone Managers and the broader DeFi community alike.

Eurobit

In December, PPF partnered with Eurobit, a Spanish cryptocurrency exchange and licensed Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP), to establish a dedicated Eurobit Zone within Panther’s Shielded Pool. Under the agreement, Eurobit will apply to become a Zone Manager, allowing it to provide its users with privacy-preserving transactions. Eurobit would be responsible for end-to-end compliance within its dedicated Zone. 

PureFi Integration

Similarly, PPF entered a separate agreement with PureFi, a provider of AML services. PureFi is already an official KYC/KYT solutions partner for Panther. This new partnership is in addition to the original agreement. Under the terms of the new partnership, PureFi will apply to operate its own Zone. This integration seeks to combine the full breadth of Panther’s privacy-enhancing technology with PureFi’s expertise and already-integrated compliance tools, creating a smooth and seamless user experience.

Messari Sponsorship

Messari, one of the biggest brands in research and analysis, was commissioned to write an independent in-depth report as part of overarching efforts to raise awareness of Panther’s platform among relevant audiences. It was published in late 2024, containing a comprehensive overview on Panther Protocol. Messari research reaches 350K subscribers, as well as an additional 740K users via Bloomberg Terminal, Refinitiv, S&P Global Capital IQ and AlphaSense.

Luna PR

Panther engaged Luna PR as its public relations agency to amplify Panther’s visibility and reputation among financial service providers, developers, and the broader DeFi community. This has led to an increase in news, broadcast, and podcast coverage about Panther, privacy-enhancing technology, and the need for confidentiality in DeFi more generally. 

Rivo.XYZ 

Panther also partnered with Rivo.XYZ, a one-click investment platform targeting the crypto yield industry. This collaboration has focused on fostering cross-community initiatives between the two organizations, driving innovation in privacy-preserving investments.

ZuVillage Georgia

Panther expanded its presence in Eastern Europe through its partnership with ZuVillage, a digital community of truth seekers, builders, and sovereign individuals guided by cypherpunk and d/acc philosophies.

The Street

Panther entered into a partnership with The Street, kicking off in late 2024. The Street is a popular financial publication that reaches 35+ Million investors, monthly, with a robust Key Opinion Leader (KOL) that reaches nearly 10M as well as a strong advertising network. This partnership aims to provide an additional platform for relevant audiences to learn about Panther and its mission, ensuring that the protocol reaches prospective users and Zone Managers effectively.

Swiss Entity

In October, Panther’s co-founders announced the start of work to establish a new Swiss-based entity. This move aims to transition operations from the current Gibraltar-based Panther Protocol Foundation to better align with Panther’s long-term vision. Switzerland’s well-regarded regulatory environment was selected to support the growth of Panther’s privacy-enhancing and compliance-focused DeFi ecosystem. Further updates are expected in early 2025.

Ecosystem Engagement, Community Involvement, and Media Presence

In 2024, Panther Protocol solidified its presence in the DeFi ecosystem through strategic engagement with its community, industry events, and media features showcasing its mission and technological innovations. Panther contributors actively engaged the community through AMAs, social media updates, and comprehensive communication on the protocol's milestones. 

Panther’s co-founders, leadership team and technical contributors also represented the protocol at key global events. This included participation at DevCon and side events, where they delivered talks and participated in round-table discussions on privacy-enhancing technology (PET) and compliance, the practical applications of zero-knowledge technology and its role in scaling privacy-preserving solutions, different models of privacy in DeFi, the role of analytics, and key considerations for AML. These contributors also spoke about Panther and related topics at Token 2049, EthDenver, EthDam, NFT NYC, Web3 Dubai, Web3 Global, at their side events and more. These events provided opportunities to lead thought by sharing Panther’s approach to privacy in the context of the evolving DeFi landscape to relevant audiences. 

Panther’s thought leadership extended into major podcasts and broadcast platforms, engaging with diverse audiences to expand awareness of the protocol’s mission. Notable appearances included Nowmedia, Proof of Podcast, Liquidity Lounge, Cryptopolitan, Infinite Crypto, and Web3 with Sam Kamani.

Media coverage increased through the end of 2024, with featured articles and appearances in crypto, tech and financial news outlets such as Bitcoin World, NASDAQ Trade Talks, Metaverse Post, AI Business, Web3 TV, Blockchain Reporter and more, with yet-to-be published interviews having taken place in December 2024 with Sky News and CNBC Arabia. 

This combined focus on community engagement, event participation and media appearances has bolstered Panther’s visibility among prospective users, partners and Zone Managers. 

Conclusion

Panther advanced confidential DeFi infrastructure through technical development, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem growth. These achievements position Panther to transform confidentiality in DeFi.

With a robust architecture and growing ecosystem, Panther is positioned to be the platform for building secure, private, and scalable financial solutions. By leveraging its infrastructure, the future of DeFi can be one where privacy, security, and compliance harmonize to create meaningful opportunities for all stakeholders.

The post How Upwind Is Taking on Cybersecurity Giants appeared first on Greylock.

With the departure of its sole community lead, Reddit's NFT community worries about a shutdown.

Who will replace CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam?

PIVX is off to a stellar start in 2025. The leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency marked January 6th with a double dose of good news: a much-anticipated listing on Poloniex, and the launch of 20x leverage trading on the global platform XT.com.

This one-two punch is a significant boost for PIVX. The Poloniex listing broadens the project’s reach to a wider audience of traders, while the introduction of 20x leverage trading on XT.com caters to those seeking amplified returns (and risks).

Trading Begins on Poloniex

While the Poloniex listing was officially announced in December, full trading functionality, including deposits, withdrawals, and trading, was not immediately enabled. Following weeks of backend integration and testing, the exchange is now fully operational for PIVX.

To celebrate this milestone, Poloniex has launched a 10-day airdrop campaign from January 6th to 16th. During this period, users who actively participate in spot trading of designated tokens and meet the minimum trading volume threshold will share a $6,000 PIVX airdrop reward.

The rewards will be distributed based on trading volume, with the top three traders receiving $300, $200, and $100 in PIVX, respectively. The remaining $5,400 in PIVX will be evenly distributed among other qualified participants.

As of press time, the 24-hour trading volume on the PIVX/USDT trading pairs was already over $100k.

XT.com Enables 20x Leverage Trading for PIVX

Adding fuel to the PIVX fire, XT.com, a global cryptocurrency exchange, has introduced 20x perpetual futures for PIVX. This move caters to traders seeking amplified returns (and risks) and signifies XT.com’s confidence in the future of PIVX.

Interestingly, the platform quickly rose to become the largest perpetual market for PIVX just a few hours after launch.

With its focus on privacy and security, PIVX is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for these features in the cryptocurrency space. The Poloniex listing and the introduction of 20x leverage trading on XT.com are significant milestones for PIVX, paving the way for wider adoption and potentially even greater trading activity in the future.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Soars into 2025 with Poloniex Listing and XT.com Leverage Boost was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The crypto exchange agrees to $5 million fine, injunction over CFTC charges.

Canada’s Prime Minister steps aside, crypto rejoices.

MicroStrategy adds 1,070 bitcoin to its reserves for $101 million.

Which protocols could help you start 2025 off with a bag of airdropped tokens?

ai16z's Eliza agents are coming to onchain games in a big way thanks to the new Daydreams innovation.

Why release a transparency report? ECC is committed to openness and transparency — as we help evolve and support the Zcash digital currency, and in support of our mission to […]

Source

Weekly Recap: Do Kwon pleads not guilty, Ethena outlines 2025 plans.

Virtuals, ai16z, VaderAI & other agents had a busy holidays.

The Ethical Responsibility of Voting in PIVX

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are generally lauded for empowering their communities through on-chain governance. Coin holders, delegates, or masternode owners (as in the case of PIVX) wield considerable influence by voting on proposals that shape the future of the project. However, this power comes with a significant ethical responsibility.

But which do you think should come first — personal interest or community interest? You are in for an interesting read on your ethical responsibility as a voter within the PIVX ecosystem.

What is Ethical Responsibility?

Ethical responsibility can be defined as the commitment to act with integrity, fairness, and a focus on the collective good. Put differently, it means prioritizing the long-term sustainability and success of the PIVX ecosystem over individual interests. Each vote cast has the potential to impact the entire community, and therefore, decisions should be made with careful consideration of their broader implications.

Focusing solely on immediate gains or personal preferences can lead to short-sighted decisions that may ultimately harm the project in the long run. For example, voting to increase the masternode reward to 10 PIV per block (from a current 6 PIV) may seem nice to masternode owners but it would be detrimental to stakers and the coin’s inflation. Ethical voting prioritizes the needs and interests of the entire PIVX community.

Decisions should be made with the goal of fostering an inclusive ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders, from long-term investors to new users.

Personal Bias in Decision Making

Let’s be honest with ourselves — many of us are here for the gains, not the tech. That said, no one would gladly embrace a decision or proposal that deprives them of certain privileges. Human nature often leads to biases in decision-making.

This could manifest in the form of favouritism and resentment within decentralized communities, where voting becomes based on personal feelings towards the proposal’s author. There is also the “Us vs. Them” mentality, typically leading to the formation of factions within the community. In both cases, individuals will favour proposals from their friends and factors, while kicking against ideas from those they’ve had disagreements with. This is unethical and detrimental to the DAO’s objective decision-making process.

Case Study

I still remember the Humpy vs. Balancer drama of 2022 like it was yesterday. The crypto whale subtly amassed a substantial amount of BAL tokens. This granted them significant voting power which they used to boost the BAL APR for the specific pools they were yield farming.

In one instance, Humpy gamed the system to direct $1.8 million of cumulative BAL emissions to themselves within six weeks. Ironically, Balancer DAO received a meager $17,000 as protocol revenue from the pool. Humpy used their influence to push for governance proposals that prioritized their own short-term gains over the long-term health of the Balancer ecosystem.

In reality, this is not an isolated case. While it may be impossible to remove bias and human interests from DAOs completely, voters must learn to strike a healthy balance.

Bottomline

Maintaining fairness and transparency in voting is crucial for preserving the friendly and inclusive nature of the PIVX community. When voting decisions are driven by ethical considerations and a commitment to the greater good, it fosters trust and respect among community members.

By engaging with proposals from a place of respect, free from personal grudges or preferences, masternode owners can ensure that the PIVX DAO operates in a fair and equitable manner. This, in turn, strengthens the community, encourages healthy debate, and ultimately leads to better decision-making outcomes for the entire PIVX ecosystem.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

The Ethical Responsibility of Voting in PIVX was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

with @sambroner @meigga @darenmatsuoka @jneu_net @chrislyons and @rhhackett @smc90

Welcome to our special end-of-year episodes -- which also look ahead to 2025 --  covering our annual Big Ideas lists, where various a16z crypto team members share what they are personally excited about. (You can see the firmwide list, also including all the trends of the crypto team,  here.)

This episode is part 1 of 2 -- but you don't have to listen to them in any particular order -- covering the trends and themes of:

stablecoins, payments, and where the early adopters will come from; app store distribution, curation, and discovery; where the next crypto users will come from, turning passive holders into active users; how builders improve, and better choose, infrastructure; and simplifying user experience.

 Covering each of these -- and coming from the investing, go-to-market, data science, research, and media teams are:  Sam Broner, Maggie Hsu, Daren Matsuoka, Joachim Neu, and Chris Lyons; in conversation with hosts Sonal Chokshi and Robert Hackett. (Stay tuned until the end for some of our meta-commentary.) 

These are just 5 of the 14 trends we shared; you can check out the full list at a16zcrypto.com/bigideas.

Also be sure to check out part 2, which covers all the trends at the intersection of crypto and AI. 

As a reminder, none of the content is investment, business, legal, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information -- including a link to a list of our investments.

Centralized exchanges have more time to adapt to new tax reporting requirements.

EU exchange delistings took a bite out of USDT's market cap, but the majority of volumes still come from Asia.

The Terraform Labs founder was extradited from Montenegro earlier this week.

EIPs and ERCs that are set to push Ethereum forward.

Traditional KYC and AML regulations have often forced companies to comply, without having the right tools to do so. Simply storing users’ personal information led to the creation of security honeypots which haven’t gone unnoticed by hackers. Web3 solutions like Privado ID aim to cryptographically prove certain traits from a user’s personal data, without disclosing it to the enquirer. This is usually made possible through zero knowledge proofs which allow users to store their personal data on their own device and only exchange verifiable credentials with trusted issuers. City of Buenos Aires has adopted a similar implementation through their Quark ID system, a digital trust framework that creates a new digital identity system, giving people control over their information.

Topics covered in this episode:

Evin’s background and founding Disco Polygon ID acquisition and blockchain agnostic decentralized IDs Diego’s background, from private to public practice Privado ID and its registry of reputation issuers Use cases, DevEx and UX KYC and regulations Buenos Aires digital ID system Real world applications of Quark ID UX frictions and solutions ZK verification Societal impact and adoption Ethical considerations around DIDs The role of blockchains in other real world applications

Episode links:

Evin McMullen on X Diego Fernandez on X Privado ID on X Quark ID on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

The ZCAP poll to elect three members of the Zcash Community Grants committee closed early this morning, and the results are in.

Jason McGee: 100 votes Zerodartz: 86 votes Artkor: 68 votes Ambimorph: 62 votes Tokidoki: 61 votes Chidi: 35 votes Kworks: 29 votes

Jason McGee is therefore re-elected to the committee, and will be joined by new members Zerodartz and Artkor. Congratulations to them all!

Thank you to all the candidates who ran for election. Thank you also to Ambimorph and Michael “Brunchtime” Harms (who decided not to run for re-election) for their service as members of the ZCG Committee.

On the question of ZCG Committee member compensation, the results are as follows:

$1,725 per month + 10 ZEC per month – 64 votes 20 ZEC per month with a USD cap of $2,000 – 45 votes $1,725 per month (status quo) – 44 votes $2,275 per month – 21 votes $1,775 per month – 20 votes

As a result, the ZCG Committee member stipend will increase to $1,725 USD per month plus 10 ZEC per month.

Our top podcasts and articles of the year brought the heat.

2024 proved to be a year of remarkable growth and innovation for PIVX. Building upon a foundation of strong community support and consistent development, PIVX expanded its reach, enhanced user experience, and solidified its position as a leader in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency space.

Major Highlights in a Jiffy Celebrated 8 Years: PIVX marked its 8th anniversary, showcasing a strong and enduring community. Expanded Reach: Secured numerous exchange listings, including Poloniex and Gate.io (with the first-ever Turkish Lira trading pair). Core Wallet Upgrade: The PIVX Core wallet was updated to v5.6.1, introducing lock shield notes and improved GUI, among others. Masternode Growth: Network strength surged with nearly 300 new masternodes joining, reaching a total of 1985 by year’s end. Privacy Enhanced: PIVCards became fully shielded, offering enhanced privacy for users. Innovation Unleashed: Introduced PIVX Rewards and Labs Oracle, expanding the PIVX ecosystem. Wallet Revamp: My PIVX Wallet (MPW)v2.1 delivered 30x faster Shield synchronization, full shield activity support, and a refined user interface. Now the Year in Detail Q1: Setting the Stage for a Successful Year

The year commenced with a flurry of activity. PIVX secured listings on exchanges like ChangeNOW, Gate.io (complete with the first-ever Turkish Lira trading pair), StealthEX, and Atani Exchange, significantly increasing its accessibility for global users. These early listings laid the groundwork for a year of significant expansion.

To further engage with the broader community, PIVX hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session with a host from GameStation and Hans Koning, a retired DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) specialist. This interactive session provided valuable insights into PIVX and fostered connections within the cryptocurrency space.

Another important milestone was the first anniversary of the Privacy Roundtable. While not directly related to PIVX development, this group plays a crucial role in advocating for user privacy and fostering dialogue on privacy-focused solutions in the blockchain world.

Other noteworthy milestones in the quarter include PIVX becoming a collateral option on Coin Rabbit and the launch of PIVX Rewards, a faucet platform for earning PIV. Meanwhile, in February, the Core Wallet v5.6.1 update introduced upgraded GUI features, the ability to generate proposal addresses directly when creating proposals, CoinControl for selecting inputs for master nodes, and the option to lock shield notes.

Q2: Enhancing User Experience and Privacy

PIVX prioritized user experience throughout the second quarter. PIVCards, the platform for purchasing gift cards with PIVX, received a significant speed boost, enabling users to spend their coins effortlessly. My PIVX Wallet underwent a series of major upgrades, including the introduction of a decentralized Light SHIELD Protocol, enhanced compatibility, and a user-friendly interface.

A pivotal moment arrived with the successful integration of SHIELD into PIVCards. This milestone, coupled with the ongoing development and refinement of SHIELD technology, solidified PIVX’s commitment to user privacy and security.

There were also a few listings in Q2. PIVX became an automated markets maker (AMM) on CoinEx in April, Armour Solutions began accepting PIV for masternode hosting in May, and two exchanges (Bitcointry and SimpleSwap) listed PIVX in June.

Q3: Expanding Global Reach and Technological Advancements

The third quarter witnessed a significant expansion of PIVX’s global reach. The project secured listings on numerous exchanges, including MEXC, KoinBX, Swapter, Bitstorage, XeggeX, BitMart, Changelly, Hellex, and NOW Wallet. These listings not only increased accessibility but also provided users with greater flexibility in trading and interacting with PIVX.

Innovation continued to drive progress. PIVCards became fully SHIELDED in July. The introduction of PIVX Labs Oracle, a dedicated price tracker app, provided valuable market insights to the community in September. In the same month, the PIVX Toolbox received its third iteration. Some notable changes were improved UI/UX, PIVX address detection, and exchange addresses support.

Q4: A Quarter of Significant Milestones

The final quarter of 2024 was marked by several significant milestones.

Futures Trading on WEEX: PIVX entered the futures market with its listing on WEEX, providing traders with new opportunities and risk management tools. First Indonesian Exchange Listing: Triv became the first Indonesian exchange to list PIVX. Poloniex Listing: The highly anticipated listing on Poloniex, a renowned cryptocurrency exchange, will significantly enhance PIVX’s visibility and credibility within the crypto community in the beginning of January. (The listing was previously announced, but trading will resume in January.)
My PIVX Wallet v2.1: This major release brought a 30x faster Shield synchronization, full Shield Activity support, and a redesigned user interface, significantly enhancing the user experience. It also featured lightning-fast sync. The median shield sync time reportedly dropped from 10 to 15 minutes to less than a minute.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

Year in Review: Top PIVX Moments was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Five airdrops that enriched and fascinated the crypto market.

The big milestones ahead for the NFT space.

As we prepare to step into 2025, the possibilities for applied AI are reshaping industries in profound ways.

 In this episode, a16z General Partners Julie Yoo and Angela Strange, and Partner Joe Schmidt, dive into the transformative power of AI across healthcare, fintech, and traditional service sectors.

We explore:

Super Staffing for Healthcare: How AI can address critical clinical labor shortages and augment care delivery at scale. Regulation Becomes Code: The potential for AI to simplify and streamline compliance, making systems safer and more efficient. Romanticizing Inorganic Growth: The opportunity for AI-powered startups to redefine service industries through workflow automation and strategic acquisition.

With insights from a16z’s Bio + Health, Fintech, and Apps teams, this episode unpacks the ideas that will revolutionize traditional systems and unlock opportunities in 2025.

Check out the full 50 Big Ideas for 2025 at a16z.com/bigideas.

 

Resources: 

Find Angela on X: https://x.com/astrange

Find Julie on X: https://x.com/julesyoo

Find Joe on X: https://x.com/joeschmidtiv

Link to article 'The Messy Inbox Problem: Wedge Strategies in AI Apps': https://a16z.com/the-messy-inbox-problem-ai-apps-wedge-strategies

 

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Ethereum and Solana's communities blazed new trails for the crypto industry this year.

Ethena dominated DeFi in 2024; how did they do it?

The AI race is on, and 2025 could be its most transformative year yet.

In this episode, a16z General Partners Anjney Midha and Jennifer Li, and Partner Alex Immerman dive into the trends reshaping AI and its impact on search, infrastructure, and devices.

We explore:

How AI-native tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are challenging Google’s search dominance. The rise of infrastructure independence as governments prioritize compute, energy, and data. The future of smaller, on-device AI models driving privacy, performance, and new consumer applications.

With insights from a16z’s Growth and Infrastructure teams, this episode unpacks the forces driving AI innovation—and the opportunities founders and nations could seize to lead in the next wave of technology.

Stay tuned for more in this four-part series, and explore the full 50 Big Ideas for 2025 at a16z.com/bigideas.

Resources: 

Find Alex on X: https://x.com/aleximm

FInd Anjney on X: https://x.com/AnjneyMidha

FInd Jennifer on X: https://x.com/JenniferHli

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

One of the most limited blockchain resources is blockspace. From Bitcoin’s Blocksize Wars to Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, a common denominator seems to have emerged in the form of rollups. Advancements in zero knowledge proofs have enabled trustless bridges, which are a cornerstone to onboarding liquidity to any blockchain. Furthermore, Celestia’s modular approach to blockchain architecture and their recent commitment to gigabyte blocks of data availability marked the beginning of commoditization for rollups. Abundance is the first rollup-as-a-service platform that is able to scale to 1 gigagas/second throughput, finally bringing off-chain applications, on-chain.

Topics covered in this episode:

Gelato’s pivot to rollup-as-a-service platform Sovereign rollups Enshrined bridges and settlement proofs Abundance and 1 Gigagas/second rollups Modularity Security assumptions Sequencer (de)centralisation Social consensus Celestia’s DA layer bandwidth Ethereum native rollups Decentralisation and censorship-resistance

Episode links:

Hilmar Orth on X Gelato Network on X Abundance on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

PIVX is a decentralized blockchain project that prioritizes financial privacy and security. It utilizes a unique combination of features, including proof-of-stake, masternodes, and zk-SNARKs, to enhance transaction speed, user anonymity, and transaction privacy.

Speaking of masternodes, PIVX operates a decentralized governance model that allows the community to shape the project’s future. As a decentralized open-source project, masternodes are one of the core pillars of the PIVX ecosystem. They bolster network security by validating blocks and transactions across a distributed network of nodes.

In this “Ethical Voting Series,” we will explore the role of masternode owners in PIVX governance.

What is a Masternode?

A masternode is a specialized type of node that performs added functions within a blockchain network. These extra functions vary from one blockchain to another but generally revolve around improved performance and security, as well as governance participation.

PIVX masternodes perform two broad functions — they secure the network by providing additional nodes to validate blocks and transactions and they facilitate decentralized governance by casting their votes on submitted proposals. The latter enables second-layer innovations.

In addition to the right to participate in on-chain governance, PIVX masternodes are incentivized for their contributions to the network. Under the current block reward structure, 4 PIV goes to stakers, masternode operators are rewarded with 6 PIV, and 10 PIV goes to the DAO Treasury for budget and development.

Here’s a quick checklist if you intend to directly host a PIVX masternode:

10,000 PIV collateral 24/7 server uptime Dedicated IP Governance in PIVX

PIVX stands out from many blockchain projects by placing decentralized governance at its core. Unlike systems where governance is an afterthought or primarily controlled by the core team, PIVX mandates that every penny allocated from the treasury must undergo a community-wide vote. This crucial step ensures that Masternode operators, as key stakeholders, have a direct say in how the treasury fund is utilized.

Each cycle, a substantial sum of 432,000 PIV is allocated to the treasury. Community members, including core developers, can submit proposals for funding. These proposals can encompass a wide range of initiatives, from critical protocol upgrades and innovative development projects to vital community outreach programs.

Masternode owners are entrusted with the weighty responsibility of evaluating each proposal meticulously. They must consider its potential impact on the entire PIVX ecosystem, ensuring that the treasury fund is utilized ethically and effectively to advance the long-term goals of the project.

For a proposal to pass, it must receive a net positive vote of at least 10%.

What’s Expected of You

Whether you like it or not, ethical voting in the PIVX ecosystem is paramount to the project’s long-term success. Masternode owners must carefully consider the implications of each proposal before casting their votes. It is crucial to prioritize the overall health and sustainability of the PIVX ecosystem, ensuring that all decisions are made in the best interests of the community as a whole.

I want to define ethical voting as putting the interest and sustainability of the project ahead of your personal interests. You have the right as a masternode holder to vote against a proposal if you believe it does not serve the community’s interests.

It is also important to engage in open discussions with other community members, and carefully analyze the potential risks and rewards associated with each proposal. By exercising your voting rights responsibly and ethically, you can contribute significantly to the growth and development of PIVX.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

Ethical Voting in DAOs: The Role of Masternode Owners in PIVX Governance was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In 2024, crypto's speculatooors took center stage.

Ten innovative launches that pushed NFTs forward this year.

Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2024 brought together finance, technology, and innovation to explore the future of the financial sector. Empeiria contributed to discussions on decentralized trust and the role of secure data in transforming financial services.

This year’s event highlighted the crucial role of data in fueling AI and blockchain advancements. High-quality data is key to driving smarter decision-making in finance, while blockchain enhances security, transparency, and operational efficiency. As Marcin Parafianowicz, Founder & CEO of Empeiria, stated: “The synergy between AI and blockchain offers a vision where secure, real-time data can fuel AI’s potential and transform the verification process, reducing 7 trillion USD in charges globally.”

Discussions on digital assets, especially stablecoins and smart contracts, showcased their potential to disrupt traditional finance with faster, trustless transactions. With regulatory environments like the UAE’s embracing these technologies, blockchain and stablecoins are gaining momentum globally.

Empeiria’s participation emphasized our commitment to pioneering secure, privacy-focused decentralized infrastructure. By leveraging our decentralized blockchain solutions, we’re contributing to a future where transparency and trust are the foundation of finance.

ADFW 2024 proved that innovation is reshaping the financial industry, and Empeiria is excited to help lead the charge toward a more decentralized and trustworthy financial future.

Follow Empeiria on X, or LinkedIn for the latest news & updates. For inquiries or further information, contact Empeiria at media@empe.io

Today, we opened a Helios poll of the Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP), which will run until December 31st. The purpose of this poll is twofold: 

to elect three members of the Zcash Community Grants committee, and to decide whether ZCG committee members’ compensation should be increased.

Elections to the Zcash Community Grants Committee

Members of the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) committee are elected by the Zcash Community Advisory Panel, and serve a one year term. Three of the current members’ terms are expiring at the end of this year. Last month, we invited candidates to express their interest in serving on the committee.

Five candidates are standing for three seats on the committee. Here is the list of candidates, with links to their candidacy announcements on the Zcash community forum: 

Artkor Tokidoki Jason McGee Zerodartz Kworks Chidi Ambimorph

On Tuesday, the candidates took part in a Community Call, during which they introduced themselves and answered questions from the Zcash community. You can watch a recording of the call on Youtube.

Good luck to all the candidates, and thank you for volunteering to serve on the ZCG committee!

ZCG Committee Members’ Compensation

ZCG committee members currently receive a stipend of $1,725 per calendar month. The current committee is requesting that this be changed to $1,725 + 10 ZEC per month. During a forum discussion about this request, several community members made other suggestions.

The following options are presented in this poll:

$1,725 per month (status quo) $1,725 per month + 10 ZEC per month $2,275 per month $1,775 per month 20 ZEC per month with a USD cap of $2,000

ZCAP members should check their mailbox for instructions on how to vote. In the past, Helios emails have sometimes been flagged as spam, so if you can’t find the instructions please check your Spam folder. 

The poll will close at 09:00 UTC on 1st January 2025.

Yes, they're already everywhere. But why do AI Agents matter for crypto?

As 2025 begins, industries are evolving at unprecedented speed: robots are revolutionizing manufacturing, terabytes of earth observation data are driving new possibilities, and gaming technology is transforming how we design, train, and innovate across sectors.

In this episode, a16z General Partner Erin Price-Wright, Engineering Fellow Millen Anand, and Partner Troy Kirwin discuss the trends reshaping the future of hardware, software, and beyond.

We explore:

How robots and full-stack engineers are driving the next industrial renaissance. The explosion of Earth observation data and its potential to revolutionize industries. How gaming technology is moving beyond entertainment to reshape training, design, and more.

This is just the beginning of our four-part series on 50 Big Ideas for 2025—don’t miss the full list at a16z.com/bigideas.

Resources: 

Find Erin on X: https://x.com/espricewright

Find Millen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/millen-anand/

Find Troy on X: https://x.com/tkexpress11

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

We are so proud to announce the launch of the Zashi-Keystone integration, a major breakthrough for the Zcash community that has been years in the making. This integration marks a […]

Source

PIVCards is a user-friendly platform for purchasing gift cards using PIVX coins. Launched in 2023, the platform allows you to effortlessly buy gift cards for Amazon, Steam, Netflix, and countless other brands, all powered by the privacy of PIVX.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use PIVCards and spend your PIV coins.

Step 1: Visit the official PIVCards website. Unlike other gift cards platforms that may require you to create an account, there is no need to sign-up or use your email on PIVCards. The process is completely private, meaning you can make your purchase with SHIELDed PIV. Furthermore, payments are sent to a shielded address. Step 2: Select your region and search for your preferred gift card. There are thousands of gift cards to choose from. For this example, I chose a 50-pound Airbnb gift card in the United Kingdom. Step 3: The next step is to input a refund address. Your PIV coins will be returned to this address if there are any issues with the purchase or if you change your mind before the transaction is completed.

Note: You can set your web browser to remember your refund address to avoid repeating this step every time you use the platform.

Step 4: Proceed to checkout by depositing the equivalent amount of PIV (£50 pound worth in this case) into the given address. You can opt for the MyPIVXWallet one-click checkout or transfer the funds from any PIVX wallet. Failure to complete the process within 30 minutes will lead to a cancellation. Step 5: Once the transaction is confirmed on the PIVX blockchain, the funds will be credited to your PIVCards account and the gift card code will be released. Easy Pizzi, right?

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

How to use PIVCards was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Twitter accounts where we're tracking opportunities and alpha in the AI Agent space.

Abstract is an Ethereum L2 built from the ground up to power consumer crypto apps.

Coinbase responded to BiT Global's lawsuit over its wBTC delisting with some harsh words.

Banks are testing out L2s as they look to create a permissioned blockchain future for finance.

Polygon community rejects controversial $1B+ yield proposal.

The status quo for developers choosing an ecosystem for their blockchain usually revolves around trade-offs: do they go for Ethereum’s network effect, liquidity and decentralisation, or sacrifice some features in favour of a higher throughput. Monad aims to combine the best of both worlds, while not being limited by excessive hardware requirements. Monad built an EVM-compatible L1 from the ground up, completely rethinking execution and consensus, in order to achieve the infamous 10,000 TPS. This extreme scalability is made possible through Monad’s optimistic parallel execution which is asynchronous from consensus. The latter has also been optimized in order to achieve single-slot finality. Monad’s proprietary database architecture allows for states to be stored on SSDs instead of RAM, which ensures that consumer-grade hardware can run a Monad node, further increasing decentralisation.

Topics covered in this episode:

Keone’s background TradFi vs. DeFi and how Monad was founded EVM’s network effect vs. other VMs How Monad aims to improve EVM’s performance MonadDB MonadBFT - New consensus mechanism Asynchronous execution MEV and proposer-builder separation (PBS) Monad’s throughput Further scaling and limitations Alternatives & trade-offs DevEx Community & ecosystem development

Episode links:

Keone Hon on X Monad on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

The post Gen AI Present and Future: A Conversation with Rashmi Kumar, SVP and CIO at Medtronic  appeared first on Greylock.

The SEC may soon be led solely by Republican commissioners.

An in-depth look at 5 AI platforms and how each has positioned its token to accrue value as it scales.

PENGU is trading at a fully diluted value of nearly $3 billion.

Polygon's DeFi ecosystem is facing major headwinds.

Many FTX creditors are just weeks away from finally getting their hands on repayments.

Aave threatens to unwind Polygon operations in governance clash.

With artificial intelligence on the rise, DAOs face new challenges and opportunities.

How have our analyst team's predictions performed?

The firm's total holdings have reached 439,000 bitcoin.

In this episode of Web3 with a16z, Shopify CEO and cofounder Tobias Lütke joins a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz for a conversation recorded live at the a16z crypto Founders Summit.

Together, they explore what it takes to build a breakout startup in a competitive market, the changing landscape of retail, and how to drive workplace change while navigating corporate culture and calls for activism.

Tobias shares the story behind Shopify's growth from a snowboarding store to a global ecommerce platform serving millions of merchants, discusses the moral imperative of creating great software, and offers insights on leadership, innovation, and embracing negativity as a tool for progress.

The episode also touches on the intersection of AI and crypto, the power of decentralization, and the next wave of technologies reshaping business and commerce.

 

Resources:

Find Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz

Find Toni on X: https://x.com/tobi

 

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Weekly Recap: BTC chops back above $100K while anxiety builds around quantum computing breakthroughs.

The firm touches on where the industry is going and where prices are headed.

The crypto-friendly representative chairs one of Congress's most powerful committees.

We highlight top takeaways from Electric Capital's 2024 Crypto Developer Report.

An early bitcoin investor was convicted after underreporting gains from millions in sales.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Dec 6th, 2024 — Dec 11th, 2024)

Hello PIVians, welcome to your weekly roundup of all things PIVX. Join us as we dissect the latest price action, explore exciting project developments, and highlight the most buzzworthy community news.

Top Stories New Poloniex Listing: A long-awaited dream has become a reality! PIVX has officially been listed on the Poloniex exchange. While trading isn’t live yet, the listing is a major milestone for the privacy-focused coin. Get ready for PIVX/USDT trading pairs! MyPIVXWallet Gets v2.1 Update: PIVX Labs has rolled out new updates for the MyPIVXWallet (MPW). The v2.1 improvement introduces full shield activity, exponentially faster shield synchronisation, and redesigned notifications. Price Actions The Daily USD Value for PIVX ranged between $0.37 and $0.29, with an Average USD price of $0.33. The Daily Trading Volume for PIVX ranged between $3.67M and $8.98M, with an Average Daily Volume of $4.99M. The total transactional volume for the past week was approximately $30 million. The top three spot markets for PIVX based on trading volume have been Binance, Bitconomy, and BitMart. MEXC and WEEX have also recorded significant volume in the PIVX Futures market.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Weekly Pulse (Dec 6th, 2024 — Dec 11th, 2024) was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In what could be best described as a historic moment for PIVX, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency has officially been listed on the Poloniex exchange. This milestone, once the subject of vigorous community discussions in 2017, has finally materialized in 2024.

The Poloniex listing is a testament to PIVX’s unwavering commitment to privacy, security, and innovation. Over the years, the project has consistently delivered on its promises, building a strong and loyal community. This listing is a recognition of these efforts and a significant step forward in PIVX’s journey to mainstream adoption. Jeffrey, the lead of business development for PIVX, expressed his sense of fulfilment on the listing. He said:

“I feel that it’s a true testimony to the growth of PIVX. In 2017, it [Poloniex] was one of the most in-demand exchange listings, and the number of times we requested a listing and never got it made listing seem impossible. Under my watch, the listing agreement with Poloniex was a breeze! And it’s likely going to be the same for future listings. I’m honestly proud of all the achievements we’ve made in one year.”

Although the listing has officially been announced by Poloniex, trading is yet to commence. However, the coin can be traded on the PIVX/USDT pairs once live.

PIVX. Your Rights. Your Privacy. Your Choice.
To stay on top of PIVX news please visit PIVX.org and Discord.PIVX.org.

PIVX Welcomes Poloniex: A 2017 Legacy Fulfilled was originally published in PIVX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

WXX (BEP20) Crowd Sale with Reward Incentive Program Objective

Starting Monday, December 16th(1pm PDT/8pm UTC), to encourage early participation in the launch of the WXX (BEP20) token
(contract address: https://bscscan.com/token/0x0109d6994093539245Aa820B9c98405b0648f0B4) on the CrowdSwap Website, xx Labs Ltd is creating an xx rewards program that will reward participants that purchase WXX(BEP20) in the “Crowd Sale” pool on crowdswap.org.

Proceeds from the sales pool will only be used to create  liquidity pools, first on CrowdSwap and then later on Pancake Swap.

At the end of the “Crowd Sale” campaign (February 14th, 2025), participants will receive their purchased WXX (BEP20) tokens. If the pool sells out before the deadline, tokens may be released earlier but this will be at the discretion of xx Labs. To receive Incentive Rewards, participants must hold their WXX tokens for a minimum of 28 days in their wallets after the purchase date. The holding time is considered to begin from the time of purchase, not the end of the program. So, for example, if a participant purchased on the first day of the crowdsale, they will have easily met the holding requirement of 28 days, while on the other hand if a purchase is made 1 day prior to the end of the crowdsale, although they will receive their purchased WXX (BEP20) upon conclusion of the sale, they will be required to hold their purchased WXX (BEP20) for 28 additional days from the time of their purchase in order to be eligible for the bonus rewards program.

When the sale concludes, participants will be able to connect multichain wallets, such as MetaMask or Trust Wallet etc, which they used to purchase WXX (BEP20), through a secure web-based app that the xx Foundation will produce. Using this app, participants can submit their native XX addresses and verify their purchased WXX(BEP20) balances by signing a message in the webapp. 

Verified participants will receive Incentive Award XX coins directly in their registered native XX accounts.

The sales pool will consist of 2,000,000 WXX (BEP20). The reward incentive program will allocate 1 million XX coins for the rewards distribution pool. 

Note: To ensure compliance, the program is not available to U.S.-based participants.

Detailed Program Terms 1. Purchase WXX (BEP20) Tokens via CrowdSwap “Crowd Sale” web application. Platform Access: Users will access the Crowd Sale via (https://app.crowdswap.org/opportunity), where they will see the WXX(BEP20) Crowd Sale opportunity. Any major cryptocurrencies may be used to purchase WXX via Crowdswap’s built in swapping mechanism. Proceeds will convert to USDT via the Crowdswap platform. Native XX Account Address Submission: Before users can receive any of the XX incentive rewards they will also be required to submit their XX account address (non-exchange) or create a new one if they don’t already have one. This will be done via a web application being created by the development team. 

Note: Access link to the verification web app is TBA prior to the end of the crowdsale (Feb 14th 2025).

2. Web-based Wallet Verification
Once available, participants will use the verification web app in this way: Connection: Users will connect their wallets (e.g., MetaMask, Trust Wallet) to the web app. It will detect and confirm the account used to purchase WXX (BEP20) on CrowdSwap. Verification: Participants will sign a message from their wallet, allowing the platform to verify their WXX balance on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and how long it was held. This signed message verifies eligibility without relying on a centralized tracking system. Incentive  Reward Eligibility: Verified balances will determine the user’s eligibility for a reward of XX coins into their native xx account, based on a tiered reward system linked to their WXX purchase amounts. 3. Incentive Award Holding Period Requirement Holding Period: Participants must hold their purchased WXX (BEP20) tokens in their account for 28 days to qualify for the incentive reward. Verification: The 28-day holding period will be confirmed via a signed wallet message, ensuring manual or automated verification of the balance. 4. Reward Pool Distribution Total Reward Pool: 1 million native XX tokens will be allocated for the reward incentive. Dynamic Tiered Reward Structure: Base Incentive Award: 5% Incremental Incentive Award: Increases by 0.1% per 1,000 WXX purchased, capped at 20% for purchases of 150,000 WXX or more. Example: 1,000 WXX: 5.10% Incentive Award 5,000 WXX: 5.50% Incentive Award 50,000 WXX: 10.00% Incentive Award 150,000 WXX or more: 20% Incentive Award (capped) 5. Volume-Based Multiplier Incentive Full Purchase Incentive Award: If the 2 million WXX pool is fully sold, all participants will receive an additional 1.4x multiplier on their original Incentive Award. Example After Multiplier: 5,000 WXX Purchase: Original Incentive Award of 5.50%, increased to 7.7% with the multiplier. 50,000 WXX Purchase: Original Incentive Award of 10%, increased to 14% with the multiplier. 6. Lockup and Vesting Period for Incentive Awards Initial Lockup: All rewards will be subject to a 9-month lockup period, during which the coins cannot be transferred or sold. Vesting Options for Additional Incentive Awards: Participants can also choose from three linear vesting periods to commence once the initial 9 month lock expires: 3-month vesting: Additional 5% Incentive Award 6-month vesting: Additional 10% Incentive Award 12-month vesting: Additional 20% Incentive Award Example: A participant with an initial 5,000 XX Incentive Award choosing a 12-month vesting period will receive an additional 1,000 XX coins spread over the vesting period. 7. Automatic Reward Distribution Post Verification: After the 28-day holding period and verification via the web app, eligible participants will receive their XX coin Incentive Awards directly into their native XX accounts. Reward distribution will occur randomly within 1–2 weeks, adding an additional layer of privacy and preventing predictability in token transfers. 8. Privacy Protection via xx Network Privacy Measures: All user interactions with the web app—including wallet connections and message signatures—will be routed through the xx network using xxRPC. This ensures that personal metadata remains private and secure. Legal Disclaimer

Participants should be aware that the xx rewards may be subject to taxation, depending on local regulations. The xx Foundation recommends that participants consult a tax advisor to understand any tax obligations associated with receiving XX coins. This program does not constitute investment advice, nor does it guarantee any specific return or profit.

Excluded Participants

To comply with applicable securities regulations and international law, participation in the program will not be open to all. Access to the program webpage and web app will be restricted for users located in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Virgin Islands, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran.

Summary of Participant Steps Purchase WXX on CrowdSwap: Participants acquire WXX (BEP20) tokens through the CrowdSwap “Crowd Sale” pool. Hold Tokens for 28 Days: WXX tokens must remain in the participant’s account for 28 days, once received, to qualify for incentive rewards. Connect Wallet and Submit Native XX Account Address: Participants connect to the web app, submit their native XX account address, and sign a message to verify their WXX balance. Choose Vesting Period: After the 9-month lockup, participants will select a vesting schedule to receive additional Incentive Awards. Receive Rewards: Verified XX coin Incentive Awards are distributed automatically to participants’ native XX accounts after the program concludes.

The post CrowdSwap.org “Crowd Sale” WXX (BEP20) Launch appeared first on xx network.

Ten of the buzziest AI tokens and memecoins offering exposure to the AI Agent narrative.

How much BTC does BlackRock think normies should have in their portfolios?

Frax enters the AI Agent fray with its own development environment.

Institutional investors bet on Avalanche's next chapter.

A beginner's guide to playing Eternum, a new onchain MMO on Starknet.

Transforming the Command Line at Warp Speed Published December 12, 2024 By Ananya Menon Ananya Menon is a journalist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. Photography: Brian Guido Zach Lloyd is reinventing the terminal for the AI era. Published December 12, 2024 By Ananya Menon Ananya Menon is a journalist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. Photography: Brian Guido

In early November 2023, hundreds of developers from around the world filed into an auditorium in the heart of downtown San Francisco. It was OpenAI’s inaugural DevDay, an event where—à la WWDC—the company would preview its latest technology and discuss the future of AI. 

During the keynote address, Romain Huet, head of developer experience at OpenAI, took the stage to introduce the company’s latest tool: a voice-enabled intelligent assistant. To pull back the curtain on the assistant’s underlying function calls, Huet pulled up his terminal log. 

The terminal, an interface for using text commands to interact directly with a computer, is a 50-year-old staple of software engineering, beloved for its precision and efficiency while simultaneously hated for its extreme user-unfriendliness. Most people recognize the terminal from movies: a bare-bones user interface with a black screen and green text where hackers frantically type in commands. 

But the terminal that Huet displayed before the DevDay audience looked markedly different. It featured an IDE-like experience for editing commands, one-click sharing of terminal outputs with teammates, and an interface that allows users to interact with the terminal in natural language for coding and troubleshooting. As Huet demonstrated the inner workings of OpenAI’s new product, the terminal on display looked different from a traditional terminal because it was different: The command line interface powering OpenAI’s assistant was a terminal called Warp. 

Warp, founded by Zach Lloyd in June 2020, is a terminal reimagined for the modern developer. Today, as engineers race to build AI products, the terminal is proving essential due to its ability to navigate large volumes of data, automate batch processing and quickly execute scripts. Warp’s terminal checks these boxes while introducing new AI-based features that promote usability, collaboration and productivity. 

The notion, however, that Warp would be embraced by developers at OpenAI, among other companies including Atlassian, Cisco, Netflix and Salesforce, was never a given. A mere two years ago, the idea of reinventing something as sacrosanct in software engineering as the terminal flew in the face of accepted wisdom. 

In the summer of 2021, a post appeared on Hacker News titled “Warp: Fast, Rust-based terminal.” It announced the beta launch of the app and invited developers to sign up and try it.  Within minutes, the post began racking up comments—some intrigued, others skeptical. 

Criticisms boiled down to concerns over trust and security. Traditional computer terminals don’t require logins; if users entered passwords into Warp, would the company sell their data for profit? Would they make themselves liable to potential data breaches? There was also the ideological argument: Why should they pay for something new when its original version was free? And there was a sense of pride among those who understood the terminal’s eccentricities (and had memorized its arcane commands). To them, part of the appeal of the terminal was its difficulty of use; becoming skilled at using it was a rite of passage. 

“A lot of CEOs run away from this sort of experience because it’s unpleasant to have people telling you your idea is dumb,” says Andrew Reed, a partner at Sequoia. “One thing about Zach is that he’s a CEO who believes enough in the value of what he’s building that he is comfortable being yelled at on the internet.” 

Lloyd’s own experience had also taught him that skeptics of technology innovations aren’t always right. At Google, he’d been tasked with reimagining a software staple almost as foundational as the terminal—the spreadsheet—over fierce protests from Excel purists. The resulting product, Google Sheets, is now used by about a billion people per month. 

The internet could yell as much as it pleased. Lloyd wasn’t deterred. 

Lloyd’s interest in computer science began in college. He was drawn to software’s ability to make convoluted tasks faster and pulled his first all-nighter building a program that could find every word on a Boggle board. But Lloyd frequently encountered software for developers that was difficult to use, whether it had a steep learning curve or a nonintuitive design. “It drove me nuts,” he says. “It was like trying to get the shrink wrap off of the puzzle box before you can solve it. I wanted to actually solve the puzzle, not spend all my time trying to open the box.” 

Despite his interest in coding, following college graduation Lloyd let his curiosity guide him, testing the waters of a range of disciplines. He worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, earned a master’s in philosophy, and even did a year of law school at Yale. “It took me longer than most people to figure out what I wanted to spend my life doing,” Lloyd says, “but I think there was value in being exposed to different fields and different ways of thinking.” It was in law school that Lloyd realized he missed building technology. He had an urge to create tools that were useful for people, and so he returned to engineering. 

In 2007, Lloyd was hired by Google to work on one of its newest products: Google Sheets. “I used to tell my friends I was working on Sheets, and none of them had heard of it,” Lloyd says. “When I would explain it, they would say, ‘Oh, Google has an Excel.’” 

The general opinion was that Excel—a decades-old, tried-and-true program—was irreplaceable. Why would anyone switch to a new spreadsheet software? But Excel had its shortcomings. The app was local, meaning if users wanted to collaborate on a spreadsheet, they had to export their work, email it to a teammate to edit, and hope that in the back-and-forth, versions weren’t lost and work wasn’t duplicated. Lloyd’s team saw an opportunity. What if they could offer a familiar experience but in the cloud, allowing for seamless, real-time collaboration?  

This undertaking came with immense technical challenges: recreating an on-prem program in the cloud, building real-time collaborative functions, and engineering the product in such a way that people could easily transfer their spreadsheets from Excel to Google Sheets and immediately continue their work. “We were trying to push forward innovation on document editing but had this everlasting tension where people have all these existing Microsoft Office files that we had to support,” Lloyd says, “and so transforming this technology in a way that would actually benefit people and not slow them down was very hard.” 

In his time at Google, Lloyd says he grew both as an engineer and a leader, learning to manage a team that grew in the following years from five people to more than 100. By the time Lloyd left in 2014, Sheets had hundreds of millions of users. “Everyone I knew, every start-up, was using Google Sheets,” he says. “By then, no one was referring to the product as Google’s version of Excel. People knew it as Google Sheets.” 

This was perhaps the most valuable insight Lloyd took from his time at Google: Some products are built as solutions to urgent, “hair-on-fire” problems. Others are built because someone is willing to question the status quo and decide it isn’t good enough. Some supposed “hard facts” are merely “hard problems” waiting to be solved. The experience of upending an accepted status quo was enticing, and Lloyd would go on to look for other supposed “hard facts” to turn on their heads.

In 2016, Lloyd cofounded a startup called SelfMade, which helps businesses succeed on social media. Leading his own company offered Lloyd a new set of lessons. At Google, he had been in a structured work setting, where there was always another rung of the ladder to climb and a clear path to get there. At a startup, there was no safety net and no definitive next step. Lloyd was happy to discover that he thrived in this strategic, competitive environment. But over time, something began to gnaw at him, a growing feeling that SelfMade wasn’t the right company for him. In 2019, he stepped down as its CTO.  

Lloyd spent the next few months reflecting on his experience at SelfMade, working to understand why it hadn’t been the right fit for him as a founder. “This might sound obvious, but I realized it’s really important to me to be working on a problem that I care deeply about,” Lloyd says. “SelfMade helped people with social media, and I don’t really use social media. It was a tech-enabled company, but the product was people’s labor. Building software is what I loved to do, so I wanted to work at a company where the software was the product.”

As Lloyd considered what he should do next, he thought back to the ethos that drove the development of Google Sheets: How do you build software that challenges a hard fact and makes peoples’ lives easier? More personal to Lloyd, how could you make developers’ lives easier? He considered the foundational tools of software development. And then it dawned on him that there was one that had never been improved: the terminal. 

While the average user relies on graphic user interfaces (GUIs) to communicate with computers, the terminal, which employs a command line interface (CLI), is an integral part of developers’ workflows and often the most efficient path to building software. While GUIs are great for certain tasks, there’s a class of developer tasks that are much better done in the command line. “A command line is more flexible than a GUI,” says Lloyd. “It allows developers to automate their own work. Most of the internet is actually just running command line apps. They are also the easiest to write—you just need to take text in and output text, no need to design anything with pixels.” Not only is working in the terminal faster, it is more memory efficient and offers higher precision and control over an operating system. 

Yet this critical tool, essentially unchanged since it first shipped in 1969, is also notoriously cumbersome. Engineers must be versed in the terminal’s library of complicated, esoteric commands and must use them precisely; one wrong character could brick your computer. What’s more, those working in the terminal can only access projects locally, making the development process a solo undertaking with little room for collaboration. “The terminal is truly archaic,”  Lloyd says. “I thought, What if I could take this old school basic interface of just text in and text out and really improve it?” This was the genesis of Warp. 

One of Lloyd’s takeaways from his time at SelfMade was the necessity of prioritizing product-market fit over growth. SelfMade had dedicated resources to expansion before it had a high level of user engagement and retention. Lloyd knew that with Warp, he would need to take incremental, intentional steps to build his business and make sure he had created something users would find invaluable. 

Lloyd’s first step was convincing his former colleague at Google, Shikhiu Ing, to come on board as a founding designer. They put together a prototype of Warp, which Lloyd knew would be critical in communicating his vision. “It’s just night and day when someone can actually see how your product will work. Once we showed it to people, they got it. That was huge for us.” Having Ing on board was also the social proof Lloyd needed that Warp was a good idea. “Once you get one smart person to sign on, it becomes marginally easier to get the next, and the next.” They hired two more talented engineers willing to take a risk on Warp, Michelle Lim and Aloke Desai, and got to work building the product.

It took six months, working tirelessly through the pandemic, for them to create a version of Warp they were happy with. Similar to Google Sheets taking on the incumbent Excel, Lloyd and his team had to balance the new with the familiar. “The real technical challenge with Warp was trying to innovate while making sure that the terminal that we’re building actually still works with people’s existing scripts and muscle memory,” Lloyd says. “We could have built something where we totally reimagined it and no one would have ever used it because none of their existing stuff worked.” At one point, struggling to match the terminal’s performance speed, the team decided to scrap Warp’s system entirely and rewrite it from scratch in Rust, a lower-level programming language popular with infrastructure engineers. The switch, while tedious, ensured Warp would offer terminal users the speed they were accustomed to. 

As for new elements, in Warp developers now have a modern IDE inside the familiar terminal. Warp allows teammates to share terminal commands and notebooks directly in their product by syncing them to the cloud. Warp also allows teammates to collaborate on the same terminal session in real time—similar to the multiplayer experience in Google Docs or Figma—so they can fight fires or debug issues. 

Lloyd’s next step was determining if there was an audience for Warp. Would the developer community even want it? To find out, in July of 2021, he published the article announcing the beta launch of Warp to Hacker News. 

Lloyd describes the critical feedback within the stream of comments on the Hacker News post as “painful—but it wasn’t going to kill the company.” As it turned out, those who were intrigued by the app far outnumbered the skeptics. Less than 24 hours after posting on Hacker News, over 10,000 developers had signed up to try it.

Over the next year, Warp iterated its product in beta with small groups of users. Lloyd solicited feedback, made adjustments, and in April 2022, the application—originally for MacOS—became available to the public. Within days, its user base grew to tens of thousands. In 2023, the company introduced Warp AI, an LLM-powered sidebar where users can ask questions if they need help remembering a command, fixing an error or tackling the next step in their workflow. In February 2024, Warp was officially released for Linux.

Lloyd’s hunch back in 2020, on the cusp of the LLM era, that an updated terminal would prove useful for developers, couldn’t have been more prescient. “Large language models are essentially command-line interfaces,” Lloyd told FastCompany, “and the terminal, the thing that we’re working on, is kind of the ideal way to interface with them.” As AI changes how code is written and software is consumed, the terminal is the most direct way to interface with AI—not just via chat but as a way of asking AI to do tasks for you. It’s a natural interface for launching AI agents (hence Warp’s June 2024 release of “Agent Mode,” which allows users to ask AI to directly accomplish tasks in the terminal).

Today, Warp has grown its user base to hundreds of thousands of developers. The company now has paying customers, both individuals and enterprises—proof of Lloyd’s vision that people will pay for AI development tools, even those that have traditionally been free utilities, when it helps ship better software more efficiently. His strategy is to strengthen Warp’s collaborative and intelligence features so that developers increasingly want to use Warp as a team—a tactic similar to Dropbox, Slack and Figma. “Monetization comes from companies wanting to pay to have their developers be more efficient and productive and working better together,” Lloyd says. “So our user growth is from the bottom up, but the revenue is like a B2B, enterprise or small team revenue model based on collaboration, intelligence and features that are for companies.” 

Lloyd’s long term goal is for Warp to help developers with a wider set of workflows, all available in one integrated app. Users will be able to log in to Warp and access not just a better terminal but improved versions of a range of tools, from code editing to DevOps and developer environment management. “Any place a developer is spending their time on a keyboard, Warp will be there,” Lloyd says.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST Get the best stories from the Sequoia community. Email address Leave this field empty if you’re human: Share Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this via email Retooling the Status Quo Spotlight Read Keeping an Open-Source Mind Spotlight Read Battling the Trojan Horse in Open Source Spotlight Read Ryan Dahl of Deno: Revisionist Engineering Spotlight Read

The post Warp Spotlight appeared first on Sequoia Capital.

How crypto's AI agents will team up to tackle big problems.

The Japanese crypto exchange is first to be listed on Nasdaq.

USDC gets a big vote of confidence.

Ripple's stablecoin got the sign-off from New York's top financial regulator.

Did you know the U.S. nurse labor market is over $600 billion annually, but the dedicated software market for nurses is almost zero?

In this episode General Partners Alex Rampell, David Haber, and Angela Strange discuss how AI is revolutionizing labor by automating tasks traditionally done by humans.

They’ll trace the evolution of cloud eras — from the original to financial services-enabled to the current AI-enabled outcomes era — showcasing how AI is creating unprecedented opportunities, allowing startups to outpace incumbents. They also explore how this shift will reshape industries, where we are in the adoption curve and what companies need to succeed, and the gaps where the a16z Enterprise team would love to see more innovation.

Resources:

AI Turns Capital to Labor:  https://a16z.com/ai-turns-capital-to-labor/ The Messy Inbox Problem: https://a16z.com/the-messy-inbox-problem-ai-apps-wedge-strategies/ Vertical SaaS: Now with AI Inside: https://a16z.com/vertical-saas-now-with-ai-inside/ BarbAIrians at the Gate: The Financial Opportunity of AI: https://a16z.com/financial-opportunity-of-ai/

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.a

 

The post With Pepper, Independent Distributors Have a Trusted Partner to Power Their Go-to Market Strategy appeared first on Greylock.

Polynomials are quintessential in machine learning for establishing relationships between outputs and inputs. However, there is also a field in cryptography which could not be made possible without polynomials - zero-knowledge technology. In zero-knowledge proof systems, computations are often represented as arithmetic circuits, and these circuits are translated into polynomials. This process is crucial for generating proofs that can demonstrate the correctness of computations without revealing the underlying data. The involved complexity explains the massive adoption hurdle for zk rollups compared to optimistic ones. Succinct aims to simplify the use of zero-knowledge proofs by providing a zkVM (SP1) that allows code written in languages like Rust to be proven in a privacy-preserving way. By doing so, it aims to lower the barrier to implementing zk-rollups and increase their adoption.

Topics covered in this episode:

Uma’s background and her interest in zero knowledge tech How Succinct’s story began ZK light clients ZK circuits SP1 and the RISC-V instruction set The prover network Use cases ZK rollups and commoditizing ZKPs Incentivizing provers Succinct’s business model Supported blockchain applications Bottlenecks in ZK adoption Succinct metrics SP1’s competitive advantage and future roadmap The real world impact of verifiability

Episode links:

Uma Roy on X Succinct on X

Sponsors:

Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

Learn how Decentralized Science (DeSci) unlocks collaboration, transparency, and innovation in research through blockchain and open science principles.

MicroStrategy isn't the only corporate bitcoin buyer out there.

FUEL is on the way.

Examining how the most popular crypto AI agents make use of their onchain elements.

Claims go live for the NFT marketplace's native token.

Instadapp's Fluid protocol is offering some juicy stablecoin yields.

Armstrong looks to rally Senate Banking Committee against anti-crypto SEC commissioner.

MicroStrategy now owns more than 2% of the total bitcoin supply.

Pudgy Penguins have flipped Bored Apes NFTs and briefly surpassed them in total market cap.

The Zcash Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Zebra 2.1.0. This release includes some necessary updates post-NU6 activation.

We are now verifying that V5 transactions in the mempool have the correct consensus branch ID before returning a transaction ID, which would indicate a successful insertion in the mempool, even though they would be eventually rejected by the block consensus checks. 

Similarly, Zebra also now returns an error when trying to submit transactions that would eventually fail some consensus checks (e.g. double spends) but would also return a transaction ID indicating success. 

The release also bumps Zebra’s initial minimum protocol version such that this release of Zebra will always reject connections with peers advertising a network protocol version below 170,120 on Mainnet and 170,110 on Testnet. Prior to this change, these connections would have been accepted until Zebra’s chain state reaches the NU6 activation height. While this is standard procedure in Zebra after a Zcash network upgrade, this change to the minimum protocol version is classified as a breaking change in Zebra.

In addition, the getblock RPC method has been updated to return some additional information such as the block height (even if you provide a block hash) and other fields as supported by the getblockheader RPC call.

You can see a full copy of the included changes in the v2.1.0 Release Notes on GitHub.

AI in 2025: Building Blocks Firmly in Place Published December 9, 2024 By David Cahn 2024 was AI’s primordial soup year. In 2025, AI’s foundations are solidifying. Published December 9, 2024 By David Cahn

Last January, we compared ChatGPT to AI’s “Big Bang” and predicted that 2024 would be AI’s “primordial soup” year. The AI ecosystem was abounding with new ideas and potential energy. It was a ripe moment for new entrepreneurs. “There is much potential in the air, and yet it is still amorphous,” we wrote at the time. “Vision is required to convert it into something real, tangible and, ultimately, impactful.”

Today, the AI ecosystem has hardened. There are now five “finalists” in the race for biggest model. Nvidia’s highly anticipated Blackwell chip is shipping this month. Data centers, many of which were planned in early 2024, are entering full-on build mode. TSMC is building new fab capacity and Broadcom is working on custom AI chips: the entire supply chain has shifted into high gear. In every industry from healthcare to law to insurance, new AI initiatives are kicking off. 

If 2024 was the primordial soup year for AI, the building blocks are now firmly in place. AI’s potential is now congealing into something real and tangible—embodied by physical data centers that are rising up all across America from Salem, PA to Round Rock, TX to Mount Pleasant, WI. If 2024 was about new ideas abounding, 2025 will be about sifting through those ideas to see which really work. 

Below, we offer three predictions for the year ahead:

1. LLM providers have evolved distinct superpowers—this should lead to incremental differentiation and a contested pecking order in 2025

In 2024, the big model race was all about reaching parity with GPT-4. Five companies achieved this objective (or got close enough) and thus became “finalists:” Microsoft/OpenAI, Amazon/Anthropic, Google, Meta and xAI. Others dropped out of the race, most notably, Inflection, Adept and Character.

To get to GPT-4 quality, these companies ran roughly the same playbook: Collect as much data as possible, train on as many GPUs as possible and refine the pre-training/post-training architecture to maximize performance. With talent moving fluidly across organizations in 2024, few trade secrets remain.

As each player prepares for the next round of LLM scaling—which will likely involve another 10x increase in compute scale—the labs are evolving differentiated superpowers. They have “chosen their weapons,” so to speak, for the battle ahead. In 2025, these distinct strategies should lead to disparate outcomes, with some players pulling ahead and others falling behind. 

Google – Vertical Integration: Google’s advantage going into 2025 is vertical integration. Google is the only player with its own first-class chips: TPUs have a chance to give NVDA GPUs a run for their money in 2025. Google also builds its own data centers, trains its own models and has a very strong internal research team. Unlike Microsoft and Amazon, which have partnered with OpenAI and Anthropic, respectively, Google is going for the prize by owning every part of the value chain. OpenAI – Brand: We’ve seen a handful of surveys on unaided awareness of ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Gemini, and it’s not close. OpenAI has the strongest brand in AI, bar none. This has resulted in the strongest revenue engine among the big AI players, with OpenAI reportedly north of $3.6B in revenue. If success in AI ends up hinging on consumer mindshare and enterprise distribution, OpenAI may continue to widen the gap between itself and rivals.  Anthropic – Talent: 2024 saw a big exodus of research talent from OpenAI, paired with inflows to Anthropic. With Jon Schulman, Durk Kingma and Jan Leike all leaving OpenAI for Anthropic in 2024, Anthropic has been gaining mindshare with research talent. The company also made some big executive hires, adding Instagram co-founder Mike Kreiger as Chief Product Officer. With GPT-3 inventor Dario Amodei at the helm, Anthropic has carved out its position as a favored destination for AI scientists.  xAI – Data Center Construction: We wrote in our piece on “Steel, Servers, and Power” about the importance of data center construction to the next phase of the AI race. With xAI bringing on their 100k GPU Colossus cluster in record time, the company is now the pace setter for data center scaling. The next milestone for xAI and its rivals will be a 200k cluster and then a 300k cluster. If it ends up being true that “scale is all you need,” xAI is well-positioned to continue its rapid ascent.  Meta – Open Source: Meta, which already has strong distribution advantages through Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, has chosen to go all-in on open source. Meta is the only big player in the pack taking this approach. Meta’s Llama models have ardent fans and the closed-source vs. open-source debate continues to rage on. If frontier advancements start to slow down, Meta will be well-positioned to leverage its open-source models for rapid dissemination of these capabilities.

In the big model race, rigorous execution lies ahead. The competitive landscape and posture of each of the players has solidified. In 2025, we will see which of these strategies prove prescient—and which prove ill-fated.

2. AI Search is emerging as a killer app—in 2025, it will proliferate

Ever since ChatGPT came out, we’ve all been on the hunt for AI’s killer use case. What persistent new user behaviors will stand the test of time?

In 2024, many different applications were tested from AI girlfriends to AI rental assistants to voice agents and AI accountants.

One use case that we think will proliferate in 2025 is AI as a search engine. Perplexity has been on a tear since its launch, reaching 10M monthly active users. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Search in October, an expansion of its existing search-like capabilities. The Wall Street Journal ran a piece recently headlined “Googling is for Old People.” Ironically, this challenge to Google comes just as the company is mired in anti-trust litigation. 

AI search is a powerful re-invention of a technology that rapidly became the internet’s killer app. Internet search is a navigational technology based on indexing the web. AI search is an informational technology based on LLMs that can read and semantically understand knowledge. For white collar workers, this will be a huge boon. 

AI search may fragment what is currently a monolithic market. It’s possible to imagine a world where every profession has its own specialized AI search engine—analysts and investors now default to Perplexity, lawyers will use platforms like Harvey, and doctors will use solutions like OpenEvidence. Along these lines, one can think of Midjourney as search over the “pixelverse,” Github Copilot as search over the “codeverse,” and Glean as search over the “documentverse.” Unlike in traditional search, AI search can go much deeper semantically, and is therefore an order of magnitude more powerful, resulting in significant incremental productivity gains.

The text response as a product surface area is deeper than first meets the eye. Not all text responses are created equal. We think LLMs allow for real product differentiation across multiple dimensions, and that founders will build unique product experiences around these capabilities, targeted at specific customer audiences:

Intent Extraction: Tightly matching the response to the user’s intent becomes easier with domain specialization. For example, a doctor and patient asking the same question will want to see different types of responses. Proprietary Data: Unique datasets like case law for lawyers, financial data for analysts or weather data for insurance underwriters will be important in white collar domains. Getting the answer right is table stakes in a business context.  Formatting: How results are presented to the user, for example how verbose or concise the response is, use of bullets, use of multi-modal content, reference to sources. Accountants tend to digest information differently than journalists, for example.  Interface Design: Code search needs to live in the IDE. Accounting policy search needs to live in your accounting SaaS platform. Semantic search benefits from context around the user’s existing workflow and data. Different domains will require different interfaces.

New domain-specific AI search engines will map themselves as tightly as possible onto the “theory of mind” of their target personas. Doctors, lawyers and accountants don’t think alike. As we become experts in a given domain, our patterns for extracting knowledge and making decisions begin to diverge. Doctors confront medical literature, lawyers confront case law, investors confront earnings reports. The way we dissect, analyze and make decisions on this knowledge is different in each domain.

There is likely to be a bifurcation between consumer and enterprise. In our capacity as consumers, we all have roughly the same needs, hence the smashing product-market fit of ChatGPT. However, in our capacity as professionals, we have different needs. It is fairly straightforward to imagine that every knowledge worker will have at least two AI search engines they use daily—one for work and one for everything else.

3. ROI will remain problematic and CapEx will begin to stabilize in 2025

We’ve written about AI’s $200B question and AI’s $600B question, which explore the tremendous capital expenditure coming out of the Big Tech companies, and the lack of commensurate end-user revenue to derive a payback for these cash outlays.

Going into 2024, the Big Tech companies were nervous about AI being a threat to their oligopoly in the cloud business. As we wrote in the “Game Theory of AI CapEx,” these companies felt they had no choice but to spend aggressively to ensure their continued dominance in an AI future. If they didn’t spend, others would, and they’d fall behind.

Entering 2025, the picture has changed dramatically. Big Tech companies have their arms locked firmly around the AI revolution. Not only do they control the vast majority of the data centers that power AI, but they own significant equity stakes in the big model companies, and they are among the largest backers of new AI startups. 

With Big Tech feeling more confident, we think 2025 will be a stabilization year for AI CapEx. If 2024 was a scramble to sign deals for land and power, 2025 will be an execution year. Shovels are in the ground, and these companies will be focused on completing their new projects on-time and on-budget. They will then need to sell this installed capacity to customers and work with enterprises to help them achieve success with their new AI capabilities. 

After roughly doubling CapEx levels since pre-ChatGPT, we may see some normalization in 2025. The latest CapEx figures released in Q3 suggest that the trendline is already starting to stabilize inside of Microsoft and Google. Amazon and Meta are still ramping, but may reach steady state in early 2025. (While Meta looks flat in the chart below, the company has issued guidance for increased CapEx in Q4).

Source: Earnings transcripts, public filings

Oligopolistic dynamics are likely to set-in as well. Each of the Big Tech companies follows their rivals closely. If it looks like the industry is on a glide path to a “new normal,” that may be welcome news for all. It would provide further support for a new equilibrium in 2025 vs. continued ratcheting of spend.

As new data center capacity comes online in 2025, AI compute prices should continue their epic decline. This is great news for startups and should incentivize net-new innovation. As we’ve pointed out in the past, startups are primarily consumers of compute vs. producers of compute, and so they benefit from overbuilding. The Big Tech companies are effectively creating a subsidy that will accrue to the entire AI ecosystem.

Many comparisons have been made between the Clouds and the railroad oligopoly of the Gilded Age. If data centers are indeed the rails of the digital economy, then the new AI rails will be securely in place by the end of 2025. The question remains what freight will ride on those rails, and how we can leverage this new technology to create value for customers and end-users.

Here’s to a year of leveraging AI’s building blocks to create incredible new capabilities that will change people’s lives.

If you are building a visionary company in AI, I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out at dcahn@sequoiacap.com

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST Get the best stories from the Sequoia community. Email address Leave this field empty if you’re human:

Share Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn Share this via email Related Topics #AI AI in 2024: From Big Bang to Primordial Soup By David Cahn Perspective Read AI’s $600B Question By David Cahn Perspective Read Generative AI’s Act o1 by Sonya Huang, Pat Grady, and o1 Perspective Read The AI Supply Chain Tug of War By David Cahn Perspective Read

The post AI in 2025 appeared first on Sequoia Capital.

Weekly Recap: BTC breaks $100K, ETH breaks $4K.

Guest Post: NFT Price Floor's co-founder Diario offers a framework to analyze a Network State economy.

PENGU is coming and it's not landing on Ethereum yet.

Trump appoints a SOL bull as his chief advisor on AI and Crypto.

What happens when artificial intelligence starts weighing in on our moral decisions? Matt Prewitt is joined by Meaning Alignment Institute co-founder Joe Edelman to explore this thought-provoking territory in examining how AI is already shaping our daily experiences and values through social media algorithms. They explore the tools developed to help individuals negotiate their values and the implications of AI in moral reasoning – venturing into compelling questions about human-AI symbiosis, the nature of meaningful experiences, and whether machines can truly understand what matters to us. For anyone intrigued by the future of human consciousness and decision-making in an AI-integrated world, this discussion opens up fascinating possibilities – and potential pitfalls – we may not have considered.

Links & References: 

References:

CouchSurfing - Wikipedia | CouchSurfing.org | Website Tristan Harris: How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day | TED Talk Center for Humane Technology | Website MEANING ALIGNMENT INSTITUTE | Website Replika - AI Girlfriend/Boyfriend Will AI Improve Exponentially At Value Judgments? - by Matt Prewitt | RadicalxChange Moral Realism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Summa Theologica - Wikipedia When Generative AI Refuses To Answer Questions, AI Ethics And AI Law Get Deeply Worried | AI Refusals Amanda Askell: The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024 | TIME | Amanda Askells' work at Anthropic Overcoming Epistemology by Charles Taylor God, Beauty, and Symmetry in Science - Catholic Stand | Thomas Aquinas on symmetry Friedrich Hayek - Wikipedia | “Hayekian” Eliezer Yudkowsky - Wikipedia | “AI policy people, especially in this kind Yudkowskyian scene” Resource-rational analysis: Understanding human cognition as the optimal use of limited computational resources | Resource rational (cognitive science term)

Papers & posts mentioned

[2404.10636] What are human values, and how do we align AI to them? | Paper by Oliver Klingefjord, Ryan Lowe, Joe Edelman Model Integrity - by Joe Edelman and Oliver Klingefjord | Meaning Alignment Institute Substack

Bios:

Joe Edelman is a philosopher, sociologist, and entrepreneur whose work spans from theoretical philosophy to practical applications in technology and governance. He invented the meaning-based metrics used at CouchSurfing, Facebook, and Apple, and co-founded the Center for Humane Technology and the Meaning Alignment Institute. His biggest contribution is a definition of "human values" that's precise enough to create product metrics, aligned ML models, and values-based democratic structures.

Joe’s Social Links:

Meaning Alignment Institute | Website Meaning Alignment Institute (@meaningaligned) / X Joe Edelman (@edelwax) / X

Matt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation.

Matt’s Social Links:

ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / X

Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation:

RadicalxChange Website @RadxChange | Twitter RxC | YouTube RxC | Instagram RxC | LinkedIn Join the conversation on Discord.

Credits:

Produced by G. Angela Corpus. Co-Produced, Edited, Narrated, and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides. Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt. Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

As Bitcoin breaks through the $100K barrier, ETH investors are hoping to hit ATHs soon.

Empeiria will be attending Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2024, happening from December 9–12 at ADGM Square, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi. This event brings together global leaders in finance, technology, and innovation to discuss the future of finance.

At Empeiria, we’re focused on setting new standards for secure and private digital interactions with our modular blockchain technology. Our solutions are designed to build decentralized trust, transforming the way digital ecosystems operate, and ADFW is the perfect platform to spread these transformative ideas further.

ADFW is a hub for financial tech breakthroughs, attracting experts from over 100 countries. This year’s event highlights ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market), a key player in reshaping finance with transparent and fair crypto regulations since 2018. Empeiria has been a legal entity in ADGM since 2022.

ADFW provides an opportunity to meet Marcin Parafianowicz, CEO & Founder of Empeiria, who will be discussing how our decentralized solutions are shaping the future of secure digital interactions. Don’t miss the chance to connect with him and learn more about Empeiria’s role in driving privacy and transparency in finance.

Follow Empeiria on X, or LinkedIn for the latest news & updates. For inquiries or further information, contact Empeiria at media@empe.io

Over half of Americans live in childcare deserts, while 90% of brain development happens before the age of five. All the while, education and childcare remain among the most resistant sectors to technological change. Billions of dollars have been spent, but outcomes continue to lag. Why?

In this episode, we dive into the systemic issues—misaligned incentives, political resistance, and the lack of a shared vision around the purchase of an education. We also explore how technology and entrepreneurial innovation may be shifting the tide.

You’ll hear from Anurupa Ganguly (Prisms), Chris Bennett (Wonderschool), Anna Edwards (Whiteboard Advisors), and a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan discuss the criticality of early childhood education, how public-private partnerships are required for scale, and how we can engage risk-averse decision-makers. 

Listen to learn how the next generation can reclaim the American dream.

 

Resources: 

Find Jeff on Twitter: https://x.com/jeff_jordan

Find Chris on Twitter: https://x.com/8ennett

Find Anna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakimseyedwards/

Find Anurupa on Twitter: https://x.com/aganguly26

 

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

With Bitcoin bigger than it's ever been, is a new era starting for its cultural assets like Ordinals and Runes?

Follow the buzziest crypto AI agents and learn about how they’re changing the way we interact, create, and trade online.

The popular crypto wallet's latest add breaks new ground and signals growing interest in the Alt L1.

Solana's latest much-hyped memecoin had a disastrous launch.

Trump said "YOU'RE WELCOME!!!" to the crypto industry, taking credit for BTC's new all-time high.

TRX strikes new highs as some of the industry's older projects catch major bids.

Trump has nominated Atkins to replace Gary Gensler in leading the SEC. Will he be good for crypto?

Fellow Panthers, 

November marked another milestone-filled month for Panther, with significant progress across key areas. Panther completed internal testing for Stage 9 of its testnet and made significant progress in advancing the Canary network, bringing Panther closer to providing infrastructure for real-world transactions. The team also made impactful contributions at DevCon and in the media, showcasing Panther’s innovations. Panther continues to build momentum in its mission to bring privacy and compliance to DeFi. Read on for the full recap below.

\

Stage 9 Internal Testing Complete, Canary Network Prep Underway

Panther hit a key milestone in November with the completion of internal testing for Stage 9, the final stage of Panther’s testnet. This sets the stage for Panther Protocol Foundation’s launch of Panther’s Canary network. The Canary network, which will be run by a Swiss-based foundation, will serve as a critical proving ground, showcasing Panther’s privacy-enhancing and compliance-driven capabilities. Simultaneously, Panther contributors continued to work on refining the codebase.

We would be remiss if we did not thank our community of 3500+ testers, whose feedback has been invaluable. Stay tuned here and on our social media for further details on access to the Canary network as we continue to deliver our transformative vision for DeFi. 

Additionally, Zone Manager documentation and interface development are progressing as the Protocol prepares to support financial service providers on its platform. 

Panther Ecosystem Update

Panther’s thought leadership in DeFi privacy and compliance was fully displayed at DevCon 2024, one of the world’s premier Ethereum developer conferences in Bangkok, Thailand.

During DevCon’s Privacy ftw side event organized by zkMonk and zkHUB, Panther’s Technical Lead, Igor Markelov delivered his presentation, "Private Data Sharing to Enable Compliance in DeFi." Igor showcased  Panther’s cutting-edge innovations, including:

ElGamal encryption  Multi-party computation (MPC) Zero-Knowledge circuits 

These technologies form the backbone of Panther’s ability to facilitate secure, compliant transactions. Igor also spoke about customizable Zone Management rules, designed to help maintain compliance in DeFi operations and offered a sneak peek at the upcoming launch of Panther’s Canary network.

Panther’s Head of Product, Saif Akhtar, participated in a panel discussion alongside representatives from o1Labs, Rarimo, and Aztec. The panel delved into the practical applications of Zero-Knowledge technology, the increasing demand for privacy solutions, and the growing trust in ZK rollups as scalable, privacy-preserving tools. 

Adding to the conversation, Panther’s Co-Founder Dr. Anish Mohammed highlighted how privacy-enhancing technologies like Zero-Knowledge Proofs empower users with greater control over their data while simultaneously addressing the critical need for compliance in DeFi. 

At the De.Fi World event, Panther took the spotlight with a compelling presentation by Dr. Mohammed. The session focused on compliant privacy in DeFi, offering insightful comparisons of privacy approaches, the role of analytics, and key considerations for AML compliance.

Panther in the Media

Panther continued to gain momentum with media coverage in November, with prominent features in leading publications and insightful media appearances.

Coinpasar spotlighted Panther in a byline exploring how Panther leverages Zero-Knowledge Proofs (zkSNARKs) to address the inherent tension between blockchain transparency and user privacy. Similarly, the Metaverse Post published an article, "The Role of Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Protecting User Data in DeFi", delving into the importance of confidentiality without compromising blockchain integrity.

Additionally, Panther was interviewed by Infinite Crypto Podcast and Web3 Podcast, with Sam Kamani about privacy technologies, compliance solutions, and the transformative role of Zero-Knowledge technology in DeFi. Yet-to-be-published, we will share the direct links to each episode after they air. 

Conclusion

Panther achieved major milestones in November, completing Stage 9 internal testing, advancing the Canary network launch, and showcasing groundbreaking innovations at global events. With growing recognition from media and thought leaders, Panther is at the forefront of shaping the future of confidential decentralized finance.

As part of his plea deal, Mashinsky agreed not to appeal any conviction less than 30 years in prison.

The former SEC commissioner under Bush is Trump's pick to take over the controversial agency.

The Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) program funds independent teams to perform major ongoing development (or other work) that benefits the Zcash ecosystem. Grants are chosen by a five-person committee whose members are elected by the Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP).

Three of the current members’ terms are expiring at the end of this year (Amber O’Hearn, Michael Harms and Jason McGee). Therefore, we are inviting nominations for an election to be held at the end of December.

How to Stand for Election to the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) Committee

Anyone can stand for election to the ZCG committee. Existing members may stand for re-election, and there are no term limits.

Candidates should submit a forum post (ideally five paragraphs or less) in the ZCG Elections category of the Zcash Community Forum, announcing their candidacy, and outlining why they believe they should be elected to the ZCG Committee. Community members will have an opportunity to ask candidates questions directly by replying to their individual posts.

The deadline for nominations is 09:00 UTC on Friday 13th December 2024. 

We cannot prevent anyone from talking about their candidacy in other media, but we encourage candidates to use the forum threads as their primary method of “campaigning”. Doing so will make it easier for Zcash community members to interact with and assess candidates.

After the deadline for nominations closes, Zcash Foundation will host a community call, during which the candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves, and answer questions from the Zcash community.

After the community call, ZF will open a Helios poll of ZCAP to select three candidates to join the ZCG Committee. The poll will close at 09:00 UTC on 1st January 2025. As with previous polls, the election will be decided by approval voting. The three candidates with the most approval votes will become the new ZCG Committee members. They will serve a one-year term, ending on 31st December 2025.

Prospective candidates should beaware of the Conflict of Interest policy (see below).

About the Zcash Community Grants Committee

The largest slice of the Zcash Dev Fund is earmarked for major grants “to fund independent teams entering the Zcash ecosystem, to perform major ongoing development work (or other word) for the public good of the Zcash ecosystem”. While the funds are administered and disbursed by the Zcash Foundation (ZF), applications for major grants are subject to approval by a five-seat Major Grant Review Committee, which is elected by the Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP).

The Committee reviews, assesses and approves or rejects grant applications. Committee members currently meet for brainstorming sessions every week, with formal committee meetings held every two weeks.

The first Committee was elected in September 2020, and adopted the moniker Zcash Open Major Grants (ZOMG). The second Committee was elected in December 2021, and re-branded itself Zcash Community Grants (ZCG). 

The Committee is responsible for reviewing, assessing and approving or rejecting grant applications, in accordance with the strictures and guidelines set forth in ZIP 1014 and ZIP 1015. Currently, formal Committee meetings are held every two weeks, and the Committee meets informally for brainstorming sessions on a weekly basis.

Committee members currently receive a stipend of $1,725 per calendar month (paid as shielded ZEC).

With the adoption of ZIP 1015, the Zcash Community Grants Program is in the process of transitioning from ZF to the Financial Privacy Foundation (FPF).

Conflict of Interest Policy

The Financial Privacy Foundation (FPF) is subject to rules regarding private benefit and inurement, and is obligated to have an appropriate policy and processes in place to ensure that actual and potential conflicts of interest are disclosed and managed appropriately, in order to avoid the appearance or actuality of private benefit to individuals who are in a position of substantial authority. FPF’s conflict of interest policy can be found here.

Before taking their seat on ZCG Committee, newly-elected Committee members are required to complete a conflict of interest questionnaire, and sign an independent contractor agreement with FPF (to ensure that their status and relationship with FPF is clearly-defined). Additionally, serving ZCG Committee members are required to notify FPF of any new actual or potential conflicts of interest that develop or emerge during their tenure.

The following policies also apply in relation to ZCG Committee members and entities in which a serving ZCG Committee member is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest:

Serving ZCG Committee members, and entities in which a serving ZCG Committee member is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest, are ineligible to submit a new grant application to ZCG. A person who has submitted a grant application (or who is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest in an entity that has submitted a grant application) on which the ZCG Committee has not yet rendered a decision is ineligible to serve as a ZCG Committee member (unless the grant application is withdrawn). A person who is a current grant recipient (or a person who is an officer or director or otherwise has a financial interest in an entity that is a current grant recipient) is eligible to serve on the ZCG Committee so long as the decision to accept their grant application was made before they began serving as a member of the ZCG Committee. Milestone payout decisions that relate to a serving ZCG Committee member’s grant (or a grant awarded to an entity in which a serving ZCG Committee member has a financial interest) will be taken by the FPF board. Before taking their seat on ZCG Committee, newly-elected Committee members will be required to complete a conflict of interest questionnaire, and sign an independent contractor agreement with FPF (to ensure that their status and relationship with FPF is clearly-defined). Additionally, serving ZCG Committee members are required to notify FPF of any new conflicts of interest that develop or emerge during their tenure.

If prospective candidates have any questions about the role, they should post them to the Zcash Community Forums.

Joint work with Sebastian Angel (University of Pennsylvania), Sofía Celi (Brave), Alex Davidson (NOVA LINCS & DI, FCT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa), Hamed Haddadi (Brave Software & Imperial College London), Shai Levin (University of Auckland), Elizabeth Margolin (University of Pennsylvania), Gonçalo Pestana (Hashmatter), Joe Rowell (Royal Holloway, University of London), Jess Woods (University of Pennsylvania). This post was written by Brave’s Security Researcher, Sofía Celi.

Just as in DECO, DiStefano is named after the football player DiStefano, who, while being Argentinian, worked for Spain most of his professional life. It is related to the fact of using something from one place in another place (TLS data to externally attest) (Image partially AI generated).

The Transport Layer Protocol (TLS) is one of the most widespread protocols that secure data in transport over the Internet. Thanks to its widespread deployment, users are assured that their data in transport remains secure and private as the protocol (especially, in its 1.3 version) provides encrypted and authenticated channels between clients and servers on the Internet. Such channels commonly transmit trusted information about users behind clients such as

proofs of age, social security statuses, bank account information and accepted purchase information. While various applications would benefit from learning such data points, doing so raises significant privacy concerns. Exporting such information as private, anonymous credentials is challenging because it is transmitted over an encrypted and authenticated channel. Meanwhile, both legislation (such as GDPR) and standards bodies (such as W3C) have made usage of privacy-preserving data credentials a priority. Therefore, it is critical to develop methods that enable users to selectively and consensually export portions of their data. This would allow them to prove specific statements or authenticate that the data originates from a trusted source, such as a particular website, without compromising privacy.

To illustrate the problem, consider that Alice wants to prove to a service that they are over 18 (a website, for example, can request such a proof). Currently, most age verification services require users to upload identification documents containing extensive personal information, raising significant privacy concerns. If Alice chooses not to share their ID, they may be denied access to the service, even though they meet the age requirement. Meanwhile, many websites, such as company payroll systems or DMV portals, already store and serve verified birth dates. Alice could, in theory, share a screenshot of her birth date from one of these sites, but this approach has two major flaws: screenshots are easily forged, and even if their authenticity could somehow be guaranteed, they would reveal unnecessary information, such as Alice’s exact birth date, instead of simply proving that they are over 18. This situation highlights the need for a mechanism that achieves two goals: proving the authenticity of the data (ensuring it is not forged) and proving a specific statement about the data (e.g., that Alice is over 18) without disclosing additional details. Such a solution would enable both proofs of provenance and proofs of statements, which will allow users to access services without compromising their privacy and ensuring trust. These types of proofs can be useful, for example, in anti-fraud checks (and we will talk about this at the end of the post). 

In this blog post, we will explore a solution to this problem by leveraging TLS to create both proofs of provenance and proofs of statements. This approach enables users to consensually generate zero-knowledge proofs of their data, allowing them to securely access additional services while preserving their privacy.

DCTLS protocols

Designated-Commitment TLS (DCTLS) protocols, also known as three-party handshake (3PH) protocols or ZKTLS, enable modified TLS handshakes that allow specific statements about the data exchanged in a TLS channel to be securely exported to a designated verifier (a trusted party). These protocols secret-share private session data between a client and verifier, and compute the handshake and record-layer phases of TLS phases of TLS using two-party computation (2PC), a type of MPC that allows two parties to jointly compute a function while keeping their respective inputs private. Notable examples of DCTLS protocols include DECO, TLSNotary/PageSigner, TownCrier, Garble-then-Prove, and Janus (similar techniques are also used to produce zero-knowledge middleboxes for proving that client traffic adheres to corporate browsing policies, for example, and for devising multi-party TLS clients/servers).

Despite their claims of practicality, these protocols face significant barriers to wide-scale adoption.

Lack of TLS 1.3 Support: None of the protocols listed explicitly provide secure support for TLS 1.3, even though it became the dominant version of TLS as of December 2020. According to Cloudflare Radar, TLS 1.3 now accounts for 63% of secure network traffic, compared to only 8.7% for TLS 1.2. Support for TLS 1.3 is therefore crucial. Even when TLS 1.3 is supported, existing protocols often lack rigorous security analyses or fail to address efficiency concerns associated with implementing TLS 1.3 ciphersuites and protocol steps in maliciously-secure 2PC.

Security Limitations: Current security arguments lack flexibility, as they are tied to specific, static protocols, ciphersuites, and 2PC primitives. This rigidity poses risks; for instance, primitives used by DECO have already been shown to be insecure. Moreover, client privacy is frequently overlooked, with protocols exposing the server a client communicates with to the verifier: potentially revealing sensitive browsing history.

Deployability Challenges: No fully-featured, open-source implementation of a DCTLS protocol exists that combines strong security guarantees with interoperability for common Internet browsing tools. This absence hinders practical adoption and widespread deployment.

In order to solve all these problems, we introduce DiStefano. But, prior to explaining our protocol, let’s see how DCTLS protocols work.

DCTLS in detail

DCTLS protocols allow a Client to generate commitments to TLS session data communicated with a Server that can be sent to a designated third-party Verifier. They consist of the following phases: 1. A (Verifier-assisted) handshake phase, 2. a (Verfier-assisted) query execution phase, and 3. a commitment phase. Over TLS 1.3 (given an informal description of TLS 1.3 with 1-RTT and with certificate-based authentication), these phases look like this:

Handshake phase. In this phase (as seen below), the Server learns the same secret session parameters as in standard TLS 1.3, while the Client and the Verifier learn shares of the session parameters that only the Client would normally learn: they engage in the core TLS 1.3 protocol using a series of 2PC functionalities, hence, they secret-share session data and arrive to session secret keys that are secret-shared. 

Record Layer-Query Execution phase. At the record layer, encrypted traffic is exchanged between the Client and the Server (as seen below). The Client sends an encrypted query (e.g., an HTTPS request) to the Server with assistance from the Verifier. Since the session secret keys are secret-shared, the Client and Verifier collaboratively compute the encryption of these queries using two-party computation (2PC). Similarly, encrypted responses from the Server (e.g., an HTTPS response) can be decrypted using the same joint procedure. Note that these responses must first be committed to, as discussed in the next phase.

Record Layer-Commitment phase. After the encrypted queries are sent and encrypted responses are received, the Client commits to the session by forwarding the ciphertexts (e.g., the encrypted responses) to the Verifier (as seen in box 3 of Figure 1). In exchange, the Verifier provides the Client with its shares of the session secret keys. This allows the Client to verify the integrity of the Server’s response and, later, prove statements derived from it to the Verifier. For example, using the committed encrypted response now held by the Verifier, the Client can prove in zero-knowledge that a specific statement is true (e.g., that an HTTPS response contains a field representing age, and that the age is greater than 18).

As we can see, DCTLS protocols are straightforward: they allow a trusted third party (the Verifier) to participate in the handshake (by performing operations in 2PC), enabling the Verifier to commit to encrypted data. This data can later be used to create zero-knowledge proofs. We require this commitment for zero-knowledge proofs: the data that one intends to prove a statement about must be committed to, ensuring its immutability. However, the Verifier never learns the plaintext data unless the Client chooses to reveal it. The Verifier only holds shares of the full session secret keys, and the encrypted data cannot be decrypted unless the full session secret keys are known.

DiStefano: Decentralized Infrastructure for Sharing Trusted Encrypted Facts and Nothing More

While all DCTLS follow a similar approach, with our protocol, DiStefano, we improve upon it by:

Making it all work with TLS 1.3 as described in the previous section and in detail in our paper.

Providing a full security model: we provide a modular, standalone security framework that guarantees security in the presence of malicious adversaries.

Improving privacy guarantees:  In the handshake phase, when the Server sends its certificate messages to the Client, relaying those messages to the Verifier for verification would disclose the Client’s browsing history over time. This is because the Server’s certificate contains its identity, which could potentially reveal the Client’s activity. In DiStefano, we aim to prevent this. Instead, we use zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge of valid signatures (ZKPVS) for signatures generated during TLS exchanges. In this scheme, one holds a valid signature issued by your keypair, while a verifier holds a set of valid public keys, one of which corresponds to your keypair. The goal is to demonstrate that the signature is valid with respect to this set without disclosing your specific public key. This ensures that the prover’s identity remains private, preserving the Client’s privacy. For this purpose, our CDLS scheme can be used with EC-DSA signatures.

Making AES-GCM be a commitment scheme: To commit to the encrypted data, one could use traditional commitment schemes such as Pedersen Commitments. However, we opted to leverage the existing functionality provided by the TLS 1.3 protocol. This involves adapting AES-GCM (the algorithm supported by TLS 1.3 to encrypt data),  to act as a commitment scheme. Since AES-GCM, when used in an AEAD setting, functions as a non-committing cipher, we introduced modifications to make it committing. Specifically, this was achieved by verifying the tag in relation to the ciphertext. For a comprehensive explanation of our approach, please refer to our paper.

As such, DiStefano is a DCTLS protocol that operates securely within TLS 1.3, offering formal security guarantees and ensuring client privacy. It is also highly efficient, as demonstrated through WAN experiments evaluating its performance in practical scenarios. The results indicate that runtime increases are proportional to the latency introduced, with slight deviations due to circuit preprocessing and GCM share derivation. Circuit preprocessing adds to the runtime but is an offline, amortizable cost. The derivation of GCM shares, reflecting the multi-round trip nature of the protocol, consistently takes less than a second. Even with these factors, the total online costs remain significantly lower than typical TLS handshake timeouts, which are usually configurable between 10 and 20 seconds. Additionally, the impact of increasing latency appears sublinear, suggesting that DiStefano maintains high efficiency and practicality across a variety of browsing scenarios.

So, what else can be done? Well, DiStefano is a pretty complete protocol that gives you commitments to TLS 1.3 encrypted data, but it does not yet give you the zero-knowledge proofs over that data. Let’s explore that now.

Zero-knowledge proofs

The data transmitted over TLS can take various forms, depending on the application. Common formats include HTML for web pages and JSON for APIs, but other formats like XML, binary data, or proprietary protocols can also be transmitted securely over TLS. This means that the data we aim to prove statements about is often structured in these formats. For example, let’s examine a JSON blob containing an age field:

{   "name": "DiStefano Protocol",   "version": "1.0",   "description": "A DCTLS protocol over TLS 1.3.",   "age": 2,   "features": {     "security": "Proven fully secure",     "privacy": "Maintains client privacy",     "efficiency": "Highly efficient"   },   "performance": {     "runtimeImpact": "Proportional to latency",     "gcmShareDerivationTime": "Less than a second",     "totalOnlineCost": "Below typical TLS handshake timeout"   },   "latencyImpact": "Sublinear" }

If this data is transmitted over TLS 1.3 as a Server’s response to a Client’s request, DiStefano can be used to commit to the encrypted data. Once committed, if we want to prove that the field “age” has a value greater than 1 (a proof of a statement), we need to demonstrate the following:

The data conforms to the JSON context-free grammar: JSON is defined by a formal context-free grammar specifying rules for objects, arrays, strings, numbers, and other components. For example, an object must consist of key-value pairs enclosed in braces {} and separated by commas. Verifying adherence to this grammar ensures the data is valid JSON.

The field “age” exists at the top level: In the JSON grammar, keys must be strings, and the presence of the “age” key as a direct child of the root object needs to be validated to ensure it is not nested within another object or array.

The value associated with “age” matches the grammar rule for integers: JSON defines numeric values, including integers and floats. We need to prove that the value of “age” satisfies the grammar rule for integers.

The value of “age” satisfies a semantic constraint: While grammars handle structural validity, proving that the value of “age” is greater than 1 requires an additional semantic check beyond the grammar rules.

We are actively working on research to address these challenges. For point 1, for example, we build on the outstanding Reef protocol, extending it to handle context-free grammars. This enables proving that committed JSON data either matches or does not match a given regular expression. For points 3 and 4, we are designing custom zero-knowledge proof systems that allow generating proofs over AES-GCM and ChaCha20-Poly1305, the two primary ciphersuites supported by TLS 1.3. Expect blog posts and papers on this soon!

Why is this useful?

Earlier in this blog post, we discussed how leveraging TLS 1.3 encrypted data to create proofs of provenance and proofs of statements can be valuable for allowing users to access additional services. However, this is just one example of its potential.

These types of proofs can also be useful in anti-fraud checks. For instance, a user could prove in zero-knowledge that they have an account with one of several authorized banks (without revealing which bank it is). This kind of proof could serve as a signal that the user is not a bot, enabling them to access services while preserving their privacy and preventing them from being falsely flagged as a bot. One can also use these proofs to verify “real” events by producing statements that confirm the origin and trustworthiness of data, helping to demonstrate that it was not generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, it is important to note that DCTLS protocols could become actively harmful tools for monitoring or censoring client traffic in certain applications, especially in automated systems without human involvement. We would like to emphasize that deployment of tools such as DiStefano must be considered carefully in such contexts.

Interested in trying our protocol?

If you are interested in trying our protocol, we implemented a full prototype of DiStefano in C++. It is built directly over BoringSSL, so it can be integrated easily over Chromium-based browsers. In fact, one of our future works is integrating this implementation directly on the Brave browser so we could leverage this protocol to detect fraud behaviour (detect bots, for example) and attest humanity without degrading usability.

If you are further interested in reading our research, you can read our paper. Or you can find us at the NDSS2025 Symposium, where the paper will be presented.

Memecoin mania is noisy, but there are reasons to be bullish on what that mania is surfacing.

Why onchain NFTs are poised to shine, plus some top projects to explore here.

Crypto markets reacted strongly to the South Korean president's unexpected declaration of martial law.

Today we are proud to unveil SILK staking — an opportunity to earn meaningful yield in the form of SILK.

Combining inflation & volatility resistance with a safe yield opportunity, SILK is leveling up as the world’s most powerful stablecoin.

SILK has outperformed USD by nearly 19% since April 2023. Combining this outperformance with 10%+ staking yield at launch, SILK empowers stablecoins to enter into a new era where the yield earned is meaningful.

No longer are you stuck in the trap of needing to have your DeFi yields have to outpace inflation.

Buy SILK

Stake SILK

https://app.shadeprotocol.io/stake

Recently, we revealed our plans for Shade and SILK to go omnichain. SILK staking is part of the first step of giving SILK a yield bearing homebase for its omnichain journey.

In addition to SILK staking, Shade Protocol will be aiming to soon launch dSILK — a liquid yield bearing version of SILK. This version of SILK will be the bedrock of the SILK economy, combining inflation resistance an earnings product all into one liquid token that be used to send / spend / trade / lend / and more.

In summary, dSILK and SILK staking takes SILK to the next level — unlocking the next stage of liquidity growth and adoption.

Staking Rewards

Initial SILK staking campaigns will start conservative, with plans for a larger and more aggressive roll out as we approach the launch of ShadeX — the official Shade Protocol encrypted money market. SILK staking features instant unbonding, ensuring seamless entry and exit from the savings opportunity. The initial campaign for SILK staking will go for 30 days, with additional reward campaigns to be started in the future.

SILK staking rewards come from interest fees charged on SILK borrowers. SILK staking serves as a growth mechanism that positively generates more of the following:

- More SILK supply
- More interest fees
- More liquidations
- More trading fees
- Higher SILK Earn yield
- More SILK buyers

You can learn more about the game theory of growing a stablecoin by listening to the video above.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the unveiling of SILK staking and the upcoming launch of ShadeX and dSILK mark significant milestones in Shade Protocol’s journey towards revolutionizing decentralized finance. Our push to become the most secure omnichain private DeFi is stronger than ever.

Our focus on privacy, ease of use, and continuous improvement through continued iterative upgrades, Shade Protocol is not only shaping the future of DeFi but also empowering individuals to reclaim control over their finances and data. As the community eagerly anticipates the release of ShadeX and our omnichain expansion, Shade Protocol remains dedicated to its mission of building an unstoppable, decentralized financial ecosystem for all.

Website: app.shadeprotocol.io

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shade_Protocol