Optimism is returning among crypto investors after Tether surpassed the $120 billion mark for the first time — signaling the potential start of a historic “Uptober” rally, as investors are increasingly loading up on stablecoins.
Adding to the improving investor sentiment, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced that the blockchain’s upcoming upgrade, “The Verge,” will enable running Ethereum nodes on mobile phones and smartwatches while making the mainnet more accessible and secure.
Tether’s USDT hits record $120 billion market cap, flashing “Uptober” signal
Tether’s United States dollar-denominated stablecoin has surpassed $120 billion market capitalization for the first time, signaling a potential crypto rally.
Tether’s USDt (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, surpassed the mark on Oct. 20, according to the firm’s website, which offers live updates of the stablecoin’s supply.
Tether tokens in circulation. Source: Tether.to
Stablecoins are the main on-ramp between the world of fiat currencies and digital assets. A growing stablecoin supply is often used as a signal to predict an upcoming bull rally, as it suggests that investors are loading up on stablecoins before investing in cryptocurrencies.
The growing USDT supply could help catalyze the next Bitcoin (BTC) rally. In August, Tether minted $1.3 billion of USDT in five days after the Bitcoin price bottomed at a five-month low of about $49,500 on Aug. 5.
Ethereum “Verge” upgrade to enable nodes on phones and smartwatches
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the network’s next upgrade, “The Verge,” is designed to make Ethereum more secure and accessible, allowing its nodes to run on devices as small as a “phone or smartwatch.”
The Verge aims to reduce hardware requirements using “stateless verification,” which will allow nodes to verify blockchain blocks without storing large amounts of data.
Stateless verification
One of Ethereum’s challenges is the increasing data size required to operate a node, which currently requires “hundreds of gigabytes of state data,” according to research from Paradigm.
The Verge introduces stateless verification, which Buterin said will “make fully-verifying the chain so computationally affordable that every mobile wallet, browser wallet, and even smart watch is doing it by default.”
Kraken to launch Ink blockchain for DeFi in early 2025
Kraken, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX), plans to launch its own blockchain dubbed “Ink” in early 2025, focusing on decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
According to a Bloomberg report, Ink aims to enable users to trade, borrow and lend tokens without intermediaries — taking a step away from the CEX’s current position in crypto and Web3.
The anticipated launch of Kraken’s blockchain aims to simplify the DeFi process for a broader audience and make it accessible and cost-effective for users.
Cosmos ecosystem rocked by North Korean developer allegations
A newly released onchain investigation alleges that part of the Cosmos ecosystem may have been developed by North Korean agents and attracted the FBI’s attention in 2023.
Part of Cosmos’ Liquid Staking Module (LSM) may have been built by North Korean developers, according to Cosmos ecosystem developer Jacob Gadikian, who shared the investigation in an Oct. 16 X post:
“It isn’t about their geography or ethnicity. The people who built the LSM are the world’s most skilled and prolific crypto thieves.”
Investor concerns arose after the revelation, fearing that some of the developers might have come from the infamous Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group with North Korean government affiliation credited for some of the biggest crypto hacks, including the $600 million Ronin Bridge exploit.
Radiant Capital hacker moves $52 million in stolen funds
The hacker behind the recent theft from decentralized finance protocol Radiant Capital has moved almost all of the stolen funds from layer-2 protocols to Ethereum in a possible move toward obscuring their location.
On Oct. 24, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that addresses linked to the Radiant Capital exploiter have bridged “nearly all” of the ill-gotten crypto from the exploit from layer-2 network Arbitrum and the Binance BNB Chain to the Ethereum network.
The total amount moved was about 20,500 Ether (ETH) worth around $52 million, PeckShield noted.
DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, the majority of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
Of the top 100, the newly-launched Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) memecoin was the week’s biggest gainer, up over 125%, followed by ApeCoin (APE), which rose over 64%.
Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.