Protocol Village: Nomic Unveils Bitcoin Liquid Staking Token 'stBTC' Using Babylon Technology

April 10: The Nomic DAO Foundation announced its plans to integrate Babylon's Bitcoin staking protocol into its decentralized, non-custodial Bitcoin bridge. According to the team: "Leveraging Babylon's technology, Nomic is introducing stBTC, a groundbreaking Bitcoin liquid staking token (LST). Additionally, through the integration of Babylon’s Bitcoin staking protocol, Nomic will roll out dual-stake security, where Nomic will become secured both by staked BTC and staked NOM, Nomic’s native token." According to a blog post: "As the two core Bitcoin projects in the Cosmos ecosystem, Nomic and Babylon’s collaboration marks a major step towards bringing DeFi to Bitcoin.... StBTC is active in a special testnet and is available for users to experience these features’ functionality and benefits before their official mainnet release. This testnet uses Babylon’s latest Bitcoin staking testnet, which uses Signet BTC. Signet BTC can be deposited into Nomic for testnet nBTC and then staked for stBTC at stbtc-testnet.nomic.io."

April 10: Bitcoin layer-2 developer Alpen Labs has raised $10.6 million in funding, and is looking to scale the blockchain of the world's largest cryptocurrency with zero-knowledge proofs. The seed round was led by Ribbit Capital and included contributions from Castle Island Ventures, Robot Ventures and Axiom Capital. Alpen Labs has emerged from stealth mode following the funding round, having spent the last year developing Bitcoin rollup infrastructure to bring smart contract functionality to the network.

April 10: Mantra, a Cosmos-based blockchain designed for regulatory compliance and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), planned to announce the launch of its Hongbai Incentivized Testnet on Wednesday in Dubai. According to the team: "It invites participants to explore innovations on the RWA layer 1 blockchain. Key features include enhanced developer access to CosmWasm for easier dApp creation, introduces custom modules and a user-friendly interface for Mantra Chain interaction, stages onboarding of vetted validators for security, and invites user participation in activities for genesis tokens upon mainnet launch."

April 10: Chainlink Functions, a product of Chainlink, the blockchain data-oracle and decentralized computing platform, has gone live on Base, which is the crypto exchange Coinbase's layer-2 network atop Ethereum. According to the team: "Functions provides smart contract developers on Base with access to trust-minimized compute infrastructure, allowing them to fetch data from APIs and perform custom computation. Chainlink Functions is a serverless, self-serve developer platform enabling developers to easily connect their smart contracts to any API and trust-minimized computations."

April 10: Playtron, a lightweight gaming operating system optimized for handheld gaming PCs, has partnered with the layer-1 blockchain Sui to launch the SuiPlay 0X1, describing it as "the first handheld gaming console with native blockchain capabilities. Available in stores in 2025, the SuiPlay 0X1 will be integrated with the native Sui blockchain at the OS account level via zkLogin and Sui Kiosk SDKs. Users will be able to access Sui-integrated games that will closely interact with the Playtron OS, providing users with a deeper blockchain relationship, new opportunities, and a unique on-chain experience."

April 10: Crypto exchange WOO X has introduced a set of index perpetual contracts linked to meme coins, the top 30 cryptocurrencies and layer 2 tokens, in partnership with market maker Wintermute and indices provider GMCI. WOO X closed a $9 million round in January of this year with participation from Wintermute and Amber. The firm is offering traders GMCI’s MEME index, which includes top meme coins like SHIB, PEPE and DOGE, while the L2 index monitors scaling tokens like MATIC, IMX and OP, the companies said.

April 10: Staking provider P2P.org said it has gone live with its Staking-as-a-Business (SaaB) model for institutions. The offering aims to help platforms like exchanges, wallet providers and custodians add staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) services to their businesses to diversify avenues of growth. P2P.org is a validator for Ethereum and 30 other blockchains, according to a press release.

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April 9: Saga, a layer-1 blockchain protocol to launch layer 1s "for infinite horizontal scalability," launched its mainnet on Tuesday, according to the team: "Utilizing an innovative blend of shared security, precise validator orchestration tools and a seamless automated deployment pipeline, Saga simplifies the process for devs to launch their own dedicated blockchains, termed Chainlets. Saga launches with a network of 350 projects (80% gaming, 20% NFTs + entertainment + DeFi), including notable projects Com2uS & MarbleX. Saga has raised $15 million to date and is the largest Binance Launchpool in history."

April 9 (PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE): Open Campus, a decentralized platform focused on education, is launching EDU Chain, "an innovative layer-3 platform dedicated to evolving the world of education via blockchain technology," according to the team: "EDU Chain is an L3 Rollup purpose-built to tackle challenges like access to quality education, unclear credentialing systems, and insufficient recognition and compensation for educators. EDU Chain is pioneering the 'learn-to-earn' model on blockchain, leveraging Open Campus's vast network."

April 9: Io.net, with a mission to build the world's largest AI compute DePIN, is joining forces with Aptos Labs, aiming to "leverage the unparalleled safety, speed, and performance of the Aptos network to support its AI products and innovations," according to the team: "Io.net and Aptos Labs will also collaborate on a suite of future AI models and inference products o be released on the Aptos network. Future products in the suite will use the Aptos network to support payments and make AI tech more accessible." (APT)

April 9: EOS presented "exSat," a Bitcoin indexing layer on EOS, according to the team. "By utilizing EOS RAM to store Bitcoin state, that will be using a hybrid mechanism of PoW, PoS and DPoS to make sure it'll stay synchronized and to enable crazy logic to run on Bitcoin." According to a blog post: "This innovation enables decentralized state data indexing for Bitcoin ordinals and other ecosystem assets, utilizing EOS RAM for high-speed access and low-latency storage. By supporting full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, exSat offers a platform where developers can create complex smart contracts with lower gas fees, thereby significantly enhancing the scalability and utility of the Bitcoin ecosystem." The EOS Network Foundation's Yves La Rose presented exSat at the BTC L2 Conference in Hong Kong.

April 9: Storm Labs has secured $3 million to build Cove, "the first on-chain portfolio manager that tackles the limitations of existing AMMs," according to the team: "The round was led by Electric Capital, with participation from Accomplice, Robot Ventures, Daedalus, and notable industry angels. Cove empowers users to build and manage custom DeFi portfolios without manual work, addressing issues like Loss-Versus-Rebalancing. Stage 1 launches with Cove Boosties, a Yearn-focused platform for boosted APY and early access to Cove's governance token. Cove is optimized by Gauntlet and audited by Trail of Bits, Quantstamp and yAudit."

April 9: Silicon Valley venture giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) made news last year when it announced plans to wade into deep tech research – switching off its investor cap to become a part-time computer science researcher and builder. On Tuesday, the firm unveiled some of the first fruits of that foray with the release of an open-source code implementation for "Jolt," its zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM). The "zero-knowledge" (ZK) bit of Jolt refers to a form of cryptographic trickery that powers a16z's VM under the hood – allowing the virtual computer to process and verify data while adhering to special constraints around privacy and security.

April 9: Waterfall Network, a smart-contracts protocol based on directed acyclic graphs (DAG) technology, announced on Tuesday the release of a new desktop app for Windows and macOS that "allows almost anyone to easily set up their own node on the blockchain," according to the team: "With one-click setup, users only need to download and open the app, their Metamask (or any EVM) wallet, and they will have a full node running in sync with Waterfall Network. Once connected, activate the node to receive stake amounts and rewards, view network status and connected peers, manage block producers on the node by creating or removing them."

April 9: POKT Network, describing itself as the "RPC base layer," has "welcomed three new gateways" and is bringing "open data access to millions of end users," according to the team. "Developer DAO, Raid Guild and Chainstack will bring their respective networks and distribution to POKT Network, providing more developers with read/write access to 60+ blockchains’ by building on top of POKT Network’s decentralized infrastructure. The innovation of Gateways lies in the ability for businesses of every kind – centralized or decentralized – to resell access to infrastructure by leveraging a blockchain protocol as the central coordinating party."

April 9: Mantle, an Ethereum layer-2 network, has launched its Mantle Scouts Program, "to kickstart the growth of innovative projects on Mantle," according to the team: "Distributing $1 million worth of MNT tokens to select builder teams, the pilot edition of Mantle Scouts Program empowers 16 respected industry leaders to bootstrap credibility, growth and unique innovations. This includes David Chreng-Messembourg, founding partner of LeadBlock Partners and LeadBlock Bitpanda Ventures; Peter Yang, managing director at Fenbushi Capital; Tascha Punyaneramitdee, founder of INIT Capital; Chris Sirise, co-founder of Pixelmon; John Park, CEO of a41, among others."

April 9: The Worldcoin project announced two new updates "to provide individuals more choice and control over their data," according to the team. They include "the ability to unverify World IDs via permanent iris code deletion and in-person age verification checks at each humanness verification location. These were established in consultation with third-party data, privacy and security experts including the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA), the project’s lead supervisory authority in the EU." (WLD)

April 9: Komodo, a project for blockchain interoperability and atomic swap technology, launched Komodo Wallet (browser extension), "a non-custodial crypto wallet, cross-chain DEX and crypto bridge all rolled into one app," according to the team. "From the Wallet tab, browser extension users can expand to a full-screen web interface to use additional features, including a fiat on-ramp, an NFT wallet (which supports ERC1155 and ERC721 tokens) and a crypto bridge. Komodo Wallet (browser extension) allows users to create a new wallet or import an existing Komodo Wallet seed phrase. If wishing to import crypto assets from a third-party wallet, users can do so by importing the associated private key(s). For users wishing to connect a third-party wallet, Trezor is supported within the app."

April 9: Monad Labs, the development firm behind layer-1 blockchain Monad, has closed a $225 million Series A led by Paradigm with additional funding by investors including Electric Capital and Greenoaks. According to the team: "Founded in 2022 by Jump Trading alums Keone Hon and James Hunsaker, along with Eunice Giarta (former MIT Media Lab, Shutterstock, Broadway Technology), Monad raised its $19 million seed round in February 2023." The layer-1 blockchain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) that executes the rules of Ethereum and makes sure submitted transactions and smart contracts follow the rules. More than 96% of the capital invested in decentralized finance (DeFi) is processed by the EVM, Monad said in a post on Substack. However, while Ethereum processes fewer than 20 transactions per second, according to etherscan.io, Monad says its testnet, which went live in March, can handle some 10,000 TPS.

April 9: The DFINITY Foundation, a Swiss not-for-profit research and development organization and major contributor to the Internet Computer blockchain, announced the launch of the Olympus Acceleration Platform, describing it as "Web3’s first decentralized, on-chain global acceleration platform. Olympus supports the development and adoption of Web3 technology across multiple ecosystems. The acceleration platform is a first of its kind platform and will be used by teams around the world to organize and launch their own accelerator programs."

April 9: ZkLink announced the consolidation of stablecoins on zkLink Nova, an aggregated layer-3 ZK rollup network with EVM compatibility. According to the team: "Upon execution, assets of the same value across supported L2 chains will be transacted as a single token on Nova. This achievement marks the next milestone in zkLink’s mission to resolve the liquidity fragmentation issue across L2 networks." According to a press release: "Currently, Nova has achieved asset aggregation, allowing users to deposit native assets from various L2 networks onto Nova for cross-chain asset trading. However, having the same assets from these networks shown as different tokens on Nova (i.e. USDC.arbi, USDC.Linea, etc.) can hinder users' trading experience. As such, Nova has deployed "MergeToken" smart contracts to consolidate assets of the same value from different chains on Nova into a single token (e.g. USDC.arbi, USDC.Linea merge into USDC). The first tokens to merge are stablecoins USDC, USDT, DAI; followed by wBTC and other tokens upon projects' requests. The token merge process will be managed by a prestigious governance committee of 12 prominent projects and institutions including Wintermute, Particle Network, Skynet Trading, Flowtraders, Ascensive Assets, Republic Crypto, Efficient Frontier, SIG, USDV, Layer Bank, Redstone Oracles and Manta Network. This committee will review and approve or deny the proposals to merge additional tokens into Nova's L3 infrastructure – decentralizing decision making and preventing autonomous control."

April 9: XYO, an open-source platform for aggregating, verifying and organizing decentralized data from hardware nodes, is introducing "xyOS, an innovative platform set to enhance XYO's node functionality with a user-friendly interface that democratizes access to its platform, protocol, and network," according to the team: "Users can enjoy blockchain perks and a more sovereign experience, free from centralized constraints. Explore, create, exchange, and connect confidently on xyOS, where your engagements are truly your own. COIN users and XYO community members can sign up for early access slated for this April here."

April 9: 0G Labs unveiled the launch of the testnet for 0G, designed to be a modular ultra-high data throughput blockchain optimized for on-chain AI, according to the team. "The network is now available for node operators, developers and the community to join and provide feedback for an upcoming mainnet launch in Q3 2024. The modular architecture enables 0G to offer a lean and performant network, unencumbered by legacy consensus algorithms, unrelated use cases sharing the same block space, as well as on-demand scaling." In late March, the project announced a $35 million fundraise.

April 9: The Polkadot community has decided through an on-chain community vote to select IndyCar racer Conor Daly as Polkadot’s Brand Ambassador for the Indianapolis 500, marking the first time a major athlete’s sponsorship has been chosen by a vote using blockchain technology.

April 9: Farmsent, a Web3 marketplace for farmers, has joined peaq, a layer-1 blockchain for DePIN and Machine RWAs, to decentralize global food trade, according to the team: "Farmsent links farmers directly with consumer-facing businesses around the world, skipping the centralized middlemen. The platform taps a DePIN of data-collecting devices, such as soil quality sensors, to track the quality and the provenance of the products. This results in a more transparent supply chain and cheaper products for the consumers due to the absence of middlemen. The project has already onboarded more than 160K farmers from Indonesia and Colombia."

April 9: Studio369, the game development company behind blockchain-powered epic open-world shooter MetalCore, announced that "MetalCore will be the first title built on Immutable zkEVM to be playable on the next-generation scaling platform." According to the team: "Immutable zkEVM, powered by Polygon, is a zero-knowledge-proof-based scaling rollup that is fully compatible with and equivalent to the Ethereum Virtual Machine, tailored specifically to the needs of Web3 gamers and game developers. The Closed Beta will run between April 9 and 22, offering both returning and new players access to a swathe of new quests and in-game contracts. In March, MetalCore also received $5 million in funding to support the game’s long-term development. The round, led by Delphi Digital, BITKRAFT and Polygon Labs, also saw participation from other esteemed investors, such as Sanctor Capital, Animoca Brands, Youbi Capital, Spartan Capital, Umbrella Network and Bitscale, as well as leading gaming guilds YGG, YGG SEA, Merit Circle, Perion, Avocado, and BreederDAO."

April 8: Sui, the layer-1 blockchain and smart contract platform created by the core research team behind Facebook’s Libra and Diem projects, has deepened its collaboration with Web3 data warehouse Space and Time (SxT) to integrate RPC 2.0 into SxT, "enabling developers to access Sui's data more efficiently and securely," according to the team: "This partnership expansion facilitates easier retrieval and utilization of on-chain Sui data, providing developers with streamlined tools for building analytics, dapps, games and dashboards." In November, Sui announced a partnership with SxT, which provides a full stack of zero-knowledge-proof-based tools to developers building on Sui. (SUI)

April 7: Obol Labs, a developer team focused on proof-of-stake blockchain infrastructure, said its distributed validator clusters are ready to be activated in the Lido Simple DVT Module on Ethereum Mainnet, after a period of testing and evaluation. According to a proposal voted on by the Lido community in October: Distributed validator technology, or DVT, "represents the fastest way to add many new Node Operators to the Lido Node Operator set with a more diverse profile of solo and community staker participants while benefiting from the technology’s inherent benefits such as increased resilience, distribution, and security. The Simple DVT module is intended to demonstrate that utilizing DVT on mainnet is possible, while furthering the diversification of the Lido Node Operator set on Ethereum and setting the stage for more scalable and permissionless DVT-based modules in the near future."

April 7: Blockchain-based gaming platform Ordz Games has unveiled its revolutionary handheld gaming device, BitBoy One, at Hong Kong Web3 Gaming Expo, followed by a launch event at Paris Blockchain Week, according to a press release. "Inspired by the first-generation Nintendo Game Boy from 1989, the BitBoy, a portmanteau of 'Bitcoin' and 'Game Boy,' rocks a sleek translucent orange design, aims to bring Web3 gaming to the new age of DePIN, offering a unique blend of nostalgia, innovation and community. Players can earn Bitcoin through retro-style play-to-earn games, diving back into their childhoods."

April 8: Blockchain-focused venture capital firm Polychain Capital topped up a $25 million funding round into artificial intelligence (AI) platform Ritual with a "multimillion dollar" investment. Ritual raised $25 million last November to address the centralized nature of AI systems. The investment was led by Archetype and included participation from Accomplice and Robot Ventures. Now Polychain has put a ribbon on the funding round. In an email to CoinDesk, it declined to disclose the exact amount invested.

April 4: Ellipsis Labs, the core developers behind the on-chain Phoenix exchange, announced $20 million in Series A funding, according to the team: "Led by Paradigm with participation from Electric Capital, the funding will accelerate Ellipsis Labs’ efforts to build DeFi products that can rival the performance of traditional finance. This is part of Ellipsis Labs’ mission to create a new financial ecosystem that offers competitive financial products on top of high-throughput blockchains, pairing the accessibility and transparency of decentralized infrastructure with the efficiency of traditional markets." According to the project documentation, Phoenix is a decentralized limit order book on Solana, with instant settlement and all market events written on-chain.

April 4: Manta Network, Celestia, Ora and Hyperbolic Labs are "bringing on-chain access for artificial general intelligence (AGI) models to Manta Pacific," according to the team: "Developers and users can build and access information through AGI models in a cost-effective and scalable way. AGI tools like Stable Diffusion (world’s most powerful AI media generation tool) and Llama 2 (Meta’s language model) can be used to generate images, audio, video, interactions. Manta Network offers the largest modular L2 ecosystem to deploy AI apps to a large base of users, and Celestia powers data availability for high-performance AI apps." (Manta Pacific is an Ethereum layer-2 network optimized for ZK applications, according to the project documentation.)

April 4: Web3Firewall, a risk and compliance platform, announced Thursday that it has successfully closed a $2.5 million pre-seed investment round led by Laser Digital, Nomura’s digital asset subsidiary, gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) and SPEILLLP, a member of Susquehanna International Group. According to a blog post: "Web3Firewall was founded in 2023 by Dr. Samer Fayssal, who was previously CISO and Head of Security at digital asset custodian BitGo. Fayssal and team recognized that Web3 and blockchain technology companies require a next-generation cybersecurity product rather than the fragmented solutions currently available. The product, Web3Firewall Enterprise, addresses increasingly sophisticated risk and compliance demands in one seamless platform, which is equipped to handle the unique risk profiles of DeFi, NFTs, DAOs and other emerging Web3 applications, providing a security layer that will be able to keep pace as the tokenized economy develops."

April 4: Ripple, the enterprise-focused blockchain service and creator of the XRP Ledger, is introducing its own stablecoin pegged to the price of the U.S. dollar. The company said the token, which it plans to release "later this year," will be "100% backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government Treasuries and other cash equivalents." The stablecoin will be deployed onto Ripple's institution-focused XRP Ledger along with the Ethereum blockchain to start out, and it will be based on Ethereum's ERC-20 token standard. CoinDesk 20 asset: (XRP)

April 4: Celo Foundation and Rarible on Thursday introduced "Celosphere," a new NFT marketplace powered by RaribleX and platforming digital ownership, according to the team: "Built on Celo, an emerging Ethereum layer-2 and mobile-first blockchain network, the Celosphere provides creators with the tools to bring their diverse digital collectibles to communities around the world." In a blog post, the foundation said: "The launch of Celosphere is a continuation of Rarible’s collaboration to empower creators, following the March 7th integration of Rarible API on Celo. Through the integration, builders of decentralized applications (dApps) leveraging NFT technology on Celo gained access to robust toolkits including a real-time NFT indexer, multi-chain support, and more." The foundation also announced the launch of "Celo Creators Fund, distributing 150,000 Celo-native USDC for creators, with inaugural community partners Refraction, Boys Club, Rug Radio and HUG." (CELO) (RARI)

April 4: Redstone, an on-chain games and autonomous worlds OP Chain built by Lattice, said it's coming to mainnet on May 1. According to the team: "Redstone is the home for on-chain worlds, games and apps built with the MUD on-chain application framework. In April, Redstone is launching a developer preview, giving space for the launch partners, including GG Quest, Small Brain Games, to deploy smart contracts ahead of time, test things out."

April 4: Velodrome, an AMM-based decentralized exchange on Optimism, officially announced their second major deployment onto the BOB (Build on Bitcoin) network, a Bitcoin layer-2 network with EVM compatibility. According to the BOB team: "The Superchain is a network of interoperable layer-2 chains that will share bridging, governance, upgrades, a communication layer and more, all built on and powered by the OP Stack. Velodrome will be the primary MetaDEX of the Superchain. The MetaDEX acts as the liquidity and volume hub, and this integration seamlessly unlocks BTC DeFi and fosters innovation for all Bitcoin use cases through EVM contract deployments."

April 4: 225"The company also saw participation from several notable crypto personalities, including ANBESSA, Eric Cryptoman, Satoshi Stacker, That Martini Guy and Zoran Cole," according to the team. "LightLink will use this additional funding to integrate millions of users into the digital economy, offering dApps with gasless transactions. The company will also use this funding to further its partnerships with enterprise businesses, such as Animoca Brands."

April 4: ORA, an oracle protocol designed to bring AI and complex compute on-chain, is releasing "Onchain AI Oracle" (OAO) on Optimism’s OP Mainnet, according to the team: "Developers and users can now cheaply and efficiently access verifiable inference data onchain. OAO is the world’s first AI oracle, enabling AI on any chain. ORA invented the opML framework to verify LLM inferences onchain. It is analogous to optimistic rollups on Ethereum L2s. Grok, Stable Diffusion and Llama2 are now accessible for use on Ethereum in one location: ORA’s OAO. ORA breaks down the limitations of smart contracts by offering AI, richer data sources and arbitrary compute so developers can innovate freely."

April 4: The team behind Vana, a decentralized network for user-owned datasets and models, notes that Reddit Data DAO has launched atop the network. According to the team: "It is a community-owned data treasury where users can join with their Reddit account and receive governance rights based on how much data they contribute. Users can then vote to sell their data to other AI companies or vote to delete it if Reddit agrees to pay them directly. The DAO demonstrates the power of user-owned data, the potential for user-owned foundation models, and the sorts of applications Vana is making possible."

April 4: Drife, a Web3 decentralized ride-hailing platform that uses blockchain technology to create a peer-to-peer network for drivers and riders, is migrating to the Sui blockchain. According to the team: "This is the first decentralized mobility infrastructure platform to integrate on Sui. The Drife platform offers a zero-commission fee structure which allows drivers to earn more income and pass on the benefits to riders in the form of savings. Sui is the optimal blockchain platform for Drife as it offers low network fees, reduced transaction costs, and enhanced overall affordability for users." According to the project's documentation, it was built on Polygon.