Welcome to the latest edition of the Swing Newsletter. The New Year lull is over, the market is warming up again, and there are tangible developments to share, both in the multi-chain world and elsewhere in the cryptosphere.
As always, we’ve done our best to curate the essential stories from the past week for your perusal. While our focus is on the serious developments that are moving the industry forward, we’ve always got time for the lighter side of crypto, whose memes of production play their part in advancing the ever-evolving narrative. For the final word on 2022, this thread captures last year’s zanier moments, while a meta summary of all 2023’s crypto predictions can be found here.
Now, let’s cut to the chase and go cross-chain…
📰Cross-Chain Updates
1. Cosmos Dedicated Research Firm Launches
For all the innovation going on in the Cosmos ecosystem of interoperable blockchains, it can be hard to know where to start. Well, you could do worse than Curious Cosmonaut Research. The first research platform dedicated to all things Cosmos has just launched with more than 200 articles. Take your fill of that free alpha.
2. Incognito-Aurora Bridge Goes Live
Incognito Chain has successfully deployed its Aurora bridge. Incognito’s PoS chain provides an incognito mode for blockchains and dApps, a bit like private browsing. The Aurora-Incognito bridge enables Incognito mode for the Aurora blockchain, effectively allowing anyone to send and receive money without disclosing their address and transaction history.
3. Concentrator Launches Multi-Chain BTC Vaults
Concentrator enables seamless compounding of yield-bearing assets such as aCRV on Polygon, Fantom, and Arbitrum. It’s just launched a multiBTC option that provides generous yields denominated in either aCRV or afrxETH.
4. Saga Partners With Celestia to Introduce Modular Rollups
If you don’t fully understand rollups, that’s okay: you’re not alone. But you’re gonna be hearing a lot about them this year, so now’s a good time to become au fait with what they do and why they’re such a big deal. Celestia’s modular blockchain infrastructure is about to get the rollups treatment thanks to a collaboration with Saga. This will support the creation of highly scalable applications.
5. Biconomy Launches V1 of Its SDK
The full release of Biconomy’s SDK will make it easier for web3 developers to tap into its user-friendly ecosystem and create consumer applications. Features include improved gas estimation, the option for gasless transactions, new documentation, and much more. The Biconomy SDK is particularly suited to creating smart contract wallets and other web3 cornerstones.
6. Avalanche Partners with Shopify So Merchants Can Sell NFTs
The biggest story of the week in terms of mainstreaming crypto is surely Avalanche’s partnership with ecommerce kings Shopfy. It means that Shopify merchants can start selling Avalanche NFTs from their own store. Millions of Shopify merchants across the globe will now be able to design, mint, and sell Avalanche NFTs, opening up a new source of revenue for their businesses.
7. DefiLlama Launches DEX Aggregator Beta
After much teasing, DefiLlama’s DEX aggregator is finally here. The beta release covers 22 chains and includes such aggregators as 1inch, Matcha, Paraswap, and Cowswap. Quotes and gas costs are independently verified by DefiLlama and there’s private mode to avoid leaking your IP. Llamaswap looks for the best route for your trade, guaranteeing the best execution prices in DeFi.
8. ChainPort Bridge Introduces Aurora EVM Support
ChainPort has integrated with the Aurora EVM, bringing the number of blockchains it supports to eight. Aurora EVM support means that tokens on blockchains supported by ChainPort can securely be ported to Aurora’s chain. All that is required is to connect one of the supported wallet types to ChainPort, fill in the required settings and choose Aurora as a target chain.
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