Welcome to the latest edition of the Swing Newsletter, your guide to everything that’s happening in the burgeoning cross-chain ecosystem. In the past week we’ve had Chinese New Year (always an interesting time for crypto), more upward momentum in January’s sustained rally, and all manner of threads pondering whether the bottom is in. The general consensus is yes, it is, but whether this is a relief rally or the start of the next bull cycle is still up for debate.
What’s less debatable is that all last year’s building in peak bear market is starting to bear fruit. It’s shaping up to be an extremely busy year for the cross-chain ecosystem with new testnets, bridges, liquidity protocols, and blockchains all nearing their mainnet launch. We’ve got the latest news concerning these developments below, but first we’ll start with a couple of Twitter threads you may have missed. There’s also a bunch of essential long-reads in the conclusion to today’s newsletter. Let’s take it from the top.
ICYMI: Twitter Picks
📰Cross-Chain Updates
Liquidity protocol MELD has announced plans to go cross-chain. This will allow users to access a single platform to track and manage their funds across multiple blockchains. It’s starting its expansion beyond Cardano by deploying an Avalanche Subnet.
The OKX Wallet web extension now supports Symbiosis, allowing users to easily participate in Symbiosis's cross-chain trading with just a few clicks. As a result, it will be possible to access liquidity on other chains, all while staying in the safety of OKX Wallet.
Stargate Finance, the fully composable liquidity transport protocol for omnichain DeFi, has made Metis the first chain it’s expanding to. Farming rewards will be boosted with $METIS, providing some generous APYs for those eager to take the plunge. It’s shaping up to be a big year for Metis and Stargate’s arrival could kickstart its revival.
BitGo, the leading crypto custodian famed for its reluctance to handle altcoins, has added support for MATIC in what’s a major endorsement of Polygon. The custodian now offers Polygon’s native token in hot wallets and qualified custody. MATIC holders have the ability to stake their ERC20 MATIC tokens through BitGo and earn rewards.
Avalanche has been on a major drive to boost the amount of tokenized BTC on its network and the effort is yielding dividends. The number of BTC bridged to the Avalanche chain has surpassed the tally of coins held in the Lightning Network. The total circulating supply of bridged BTC, or BTC.b, on Avalanche has risen to a record 5,700 BTC, while the number of bitcoin locked in the Lightning Network stands at 4,929 BTC.
SynFutures has announced early access registration to its highly-anticipated NFT derivatives product NFTures. NFTures will enable users to take long or short positions in NFT collections, maximizing profit opportunities while hedging risk and exposure.
Mailchain has launched on Aurora’s network, paving the way for wallet-based web3 communication. Mailchain enables users to receive messages from dApps, DAOs, and other users. For dApp to user communication, use cases include getting notified about a new launch, NFT collection, event, governance vote or security issue. DAO members can easily communicate using their native identity and recipients can be sure they are communicating with a verified address.
Anticipation is mounting as Move-based blockchain Sui eases closer to its mainnet launch. In the next few days, Testnet Wave 2 will go live. There’ll be a focus on testing epoch management, tokenomics, and stake delegation. The testnet will also feature a new game focused on tokenomics and staking that anyone will be able to play.
📊Bridge Stats
Key data insights from the bridging ecosystem in the past week👇
Total Bridge Volume (7 Days) 👉 ~ $11.45B
Top Protocols with the most TVL (7 Days) 👉 Lido ~$8.2B (By DeFiLlama)
Total Bridge Transaction Count by Chain
📜Interesting Reads
The Crypto Market is on Fire: The Role of AI and DEXs in Driving Growth – “I am also excited about decentralized cross-chain swaps platform that will help trade coins across different blockchains with self-custody.”
How Is Polygon Doing It? – On Polygon’s Phenomenal Partnerships
2022 Electric Capital Developer Report – “We fingerprinted 250 million code commits across open-source repositories to create the 2022 Developer Report.”
🐦Twitter Spaces
Optimism: OP Radio with Tally Ho Wallet on Privacy + Community Ownership
Astar: What the Future of WASM Smart Contracts Looks Like on Polkadot
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