In brief, the rapid transformation of decentralized applications has significantly changed how technology interacts with humans. These applications operate on blockchain networks, providing transparency, security, and efficiency. The initial focus was merely on single-chain ; however, interest in multi-chain DApps picked up a lot of momentum, and these applications could have the potential to work from multiple networks. Developing them, however, gives their own set of challenges coupled with interesting opportunities.

Ethereum layer-3 gaming network Xai is set to release “Tiny Sentry Keys” to lower the barrier for entry into its Sentry Key ecosystem, promising future benefits within the gaming ecosystem for buyers.

Xai’s Sentry Keys are NFT-based licenses for nodes that are operated by network supporters, which can be staked to receive rewards. Already, the Xai Foundation claims, approximately $340 million worth of rewards and airdrops have been distributed through this scheme thus far—including the much-hyped XAI token airdrop earlier this year.

At the time of writing, according to ArbiScan, there are currently 6,447 Sentry Key holders. with this figure expected to grow with the launch of Tiny Sentry Keys. Regular Sentry Keys sell for 1.43 ETH ($5,520), but the Tiny Keys will sell for just 0.0143 ($55), significantly lowering the barrier for players to engage with NFT nodes. 

An exact sale date will be announced on December 9. Xai representatives confirmed to Decrypt that with the reduced price of the Tiny Keys, holders will earn proportionally less rewards compared to regular Key holders. One network contributor likened the offering to the kind of battle pass seen in games like Fortnite, with unlockable rewards for players.

“Think of it as the ultimate battle pass, giving you access to rewards, airdrops, and perks across Xai’s growing ecosystem,” said the pseudonymous Soby, a core contributor to Xai. “We’re creating a platform that’s accessible to everyone while delivering immense value to our community.”

Xai is a layer-3 blockchain built on top of the Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrum network. This means that Xai keeps Arbitrum’s key functionality, while tweaking various network elements to better cater to gaming projects. 

As such, Xai has attracted game creators to launch on its chain. Game developer Ex Populus has committed its suite of games to Xai, Crypto Unicorns migrated from Polygon to the network earlier this year, and indie gaming curator The MIX said it plans to launch over 100 games on Xai.

With the sale of Tiny Sentry Keys, holders of regular Sentry Keys will be airdropped an additional 99 keys to make it 100. The Xai Foundation confirmed that over “12 top-tier games and ecosystem projects” are working with it to provide rewards for key holders.

On top of this, it’ll be easier than ever to purchase the Keys with the addition of a credit and debit card payment ramp via Crossmint, as well as the option to pay with XAI tokens—with other major tokens to be added to this list soon.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

• The total cryptocurrency market valuation hit $3.54 trillion on Tuesday, a new all-time high.
• The crypto market is now on course for its sixth consecutive positive daily trading session. 
• Bull seized control in the derivatives markets as bears booked 51% of the $343.14 million liquidations recorded on Tuesday.  

Altcoin market updates: Ethereum breaches $3.7K resistance, while Tron and Avalanche gain traction

Ethereum price crossed the $3,700 mark as it outperformed Bitcoin on Wednesday amid positive tailwinds from news reports that the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) could approve staking for crypto ETFs in the US.

• Amid expectation of corporate participation in DeFi, the bullish sentiment spread toward prominent Proof-of-Stake networks including Tron (TRX) and Avalanche (AVAX).
• Tron (TRX) price hit $0.40 as the rally continued with another 17% surge on Wednesday amid several bullish catalysts including founder Justin Sun’s $30 million investment in Trump World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token. 
• Avalanche (AVAX) price also increased by 6.5%, mirroring Ethereum’s 6% surge on the day. 

Chart of the day: DeFi market cap hits $135 billion on Fed rate cut impact

The cryptocurrency sector’s positive reaction to Donald Trump’s re-election has dominated media discourse over the past month. However, a closer look at on-chain data trends reveal a pronounced impact of the macroeconomic policy shift from the US central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed). 

On November 7, the Fed announced a 25-basis-point rate cut after an initial 50-basis-point cut in September, marking the first time in four years the regulator slashed rates in two consecutive months.

This also coincided with significant dovish action from the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB). 

Total DeFi Market Cap | TradingView

Amid the resulting decline in yield on government bonds and other risk-off securities, investors are increasingly shifting capital toward decentralized finance (DeFi) services to shore up gains. 

Confirming this narrative, the TradingView chart above shows the aggregate market capitalization of DeFi-focused crypto projects.

The Total DeFi market cap stood at $73.2 billion as of November 6. But since the Fed’s latest rate cut decision, the figure has increased by 88% to hit the $135 billion milestone on December 4. 

This suggests that the crypto market rally has not only been driven by speculative demand for key assets but also by inflows from fresh investments in core yield-bearish DeFi services and the dovish macro economic landscape.

Unsurprisingly, prominent DeFi-focused Layer-1 projects such as BinanceCoin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) have recorded gains in excess of 100% during this period.  

The next Fed rate decision is slated for December 17.

With analysts pricing in a 66% chance of another rate cut, further influx of funds in the DeFi sector could see broader crypto markets hit new peaks in the weeks ahead. 

Crypto news updates: 

• Bitcoin crashes to $62,000 on Upbit amid South Korea’s martial law declaration

Bitcoin’s price plunged over 30% to $62,000 on Upbit after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3, 2024, citing political turmoil and threats from North Korea. 

The announcement triggered widespread panic among crypto investors, triggering mass sell-offs in local markets. 

Although Bitcoin recovered above $89,000 on Upbit, the local market remains disconnected from global exchanges, where the asset trades around $93,600, creating a $4,000 arbitrage gap. 

• Enron announces relaunch with a focus on energy and blockchain

Enron, infamous for its catastrophic bankruptcy and fraud scandal in 2001, has announced plans to relaunch with a bold new vision aimed at tackling global energy challenges. 

Notably, the company hinted at exploring blockchain and crypto technologies as part of its pivot toward “permissionless innovation,” sparking curiosity about its potential entry into the digital asset space.

This surprising announcement has reignited debates over the legacy of one of history’s most notorious corporate collapses.

• Donald Trump nominates Paul Atkins as SEC Chair

President-elect Donald Trump has officially nominated Paul Atkins as the new Chair of the SEC. 

Announced via a Truth Social post, Trump praised Atkins for his leadership in capital markets and regulatory expertise, emphasizing his commitment to fostering innovation and addressing digital asset challenges. 

Atkins, a former SEC Commissioner and CEO of Patomak Global Partners, is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping policies for emerging financial technologies, particularly blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

This appointment marks a potential shift in the SEC’s approach toward digital assets with Trump signaling a focus on “common sense regulations” and innovation as priorities.

The nomination has sparked optimism within the crypto sector, which anticipates more balanced oversight under Atkins’ leadership after intense scrutiny under the outgoing Gary Gensler-led regime. 
 

Aerodrome Finance (AERO), the largest DeFi protocol on Coinbase’s L2 Base, and Kaia (KAIA), a product of Klaytn’s rebranding, have seen their key tokens listed by Binance Futures in the USD-margined section. Both assets are available for trading with up to 75x leverage.

Binance Futures lists KAIA, AERO contracts with 75x margin

Starting today, Dec. 4, 2024, Binance Futures, a derivatives unit of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance (BNB), supports KAIAUSDT and AEROUSDT Perpetual Contracts. Both products are available in a USD-margined contracts toolkit.

The contracts can be traded with up to 75x leverage. The KAIAUSDT perpetual contract debuts on Binance Futures at 2:00 p.m. UTC, while AEROUSDT arrives 15 minutes later. U.S. Dollar Tether (USDT) stablecoin is a settlement asset for the new offerings.

Funding rates for the perpetual contracts will be adjusted every four hours, with a 2% limit. 

KAIA is the core native cryptocurrency of Kaia, a brand-new L1 that kicked off as a result of a strategic merger between the Klaytn and Finschia projects that happened earlier this year. AERO is a utility and governance cryptocurrency of Aerodrome Finance (AERO), the largest DeFi protocol on Base L2 by total value locked (TVL).

As covered by U.Today previously, Binance Futures made headlines in October by listing MOODENG, SANTOS and SAFE USDT-settled contracts with 75x leverage.

AERO price jumps by 20% in no time

Aerodrome Finance’s AERO soared to new local high today. In less than 30 minutes, the asset added 20% and peaked at $1.96.

With this upsurge, the token’s marker cap crossed a $1.33 billion valuation. The token replaced overhyped meme coin Peanut The Squirrel (PNUT) as the 98th largest cryptocurrency, CoinMarketCap states.

The trading volume in AERO pairs rocketed by 50% overnight. At the same time, the KAIA price reacted to the listing announcement with a 10% price upsurge. The token surpassed EOS and GALA heavyweights and is almost ready to smash FLOKI meme coin by market cap.

The market benchmark is up 3.43% for the crypto segment in the last 24 hours.

European computer company Metavisio will be offering what it is calling the world’s first web3 laptop with built-in cold storage crypto wallet along with other features—but it’s yet to have a name. The company plans to to release three tiers of the laptop, the company said, all serving slightly different functions. 

Metavisio added laptop users will be rewarded with a future token airdrop.

The laptops, created by Metavisio’s daughter company Thomson Computing, are yet to have their specifications nailed down. All that has been confirmed is that it will have a “secure enclave chipset,” a security measure that Apple has adopted.

As the specs are still yet to be confirmed, the company’s predicted price range is quite broad. The laptops will start at €499 ($523) and run all the way up to €2,000 ($2,100). On top of that, this range accounts for three different laptops; one suited for education, another for gaming, and a final one for “everyday” use.

With details still to be confirmed, including the laptop’s name, Thomson is struggling to put an exact date on the Web3 laptop’s release. It confirmed to Decrypt that its proprietary operating system should be completed by Q1 2025, which would mark the start of development for the laptop’s prototype.

Cold storage wallets are considered safer than hot wallets, like MetaMask or Phantom, as they reduce the risk of being hacked. That’s because the private keys required to authorize transactions are stored offline. Ledger is the most popular hardware solution that comes in the form of an easily transportable USB stick. 

Metavisio believes your laptop being your cold wallet is the next step. As such the laptop will have a cold wallet built into it that will support Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks, Bitcoin, XRP, and Bittensor—with more to be added in the future.

“The Web3 laptop is designed for a future where you truly own your digital experience,” Stephan Français, Founder & CEO of Metavisio and Thomson, told Decrypt. “By seamlessly unifying Web3 tools, we’re laying the foundation to empower the next billion users.”

The laptop’s operating system known as “Web3 OS” will look to optimize crypto-native experiences such as dApp integration, the aforementioned cold wallet, and reward users with tokens for specific tasks—akin to the play-to-airdrop mechanic that swept the industry this year.

It was confirmed that Metavisio will be launching a token and that users looking to receive tokens will have to complete a know-your-customer (KYC) process. Decrypt did not receive a response when asking what blockchain it will use or when the token will be rolled out. 

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

Telegram game and engagement platform Major will launch its token and begin airdropping MAJOR to players Thursday while Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving, and now on-chain claims are open for eligible players.

Players who met the criteria to be eligible for the MAJOR token, which will launch on The Open Network (TON), can now connect a TON wallet ahead of the token generation event at 12pm UTC on Thursday.

Major previously let players select a centralized exchange to claim to, including OKX and Bitget, as well as selecting to have the airdrop go directly to the Wallet app on Telegram. Today’s option opens up the field to additional self-custody TON wallets. MAJOR will have a total supply of 100 million tokens.

The game launched earlier this year and pulled in more than 30 million players, according to the developers, with the Telegram mini app letting users earn stars by playing games, networking, and completing other engagement-style tasks.

It’s the latest Telegram mini app to gain substantial traction around a promise of a token airdrop to players, following big hits such as Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, Catizen, and X Empire. Such games have drawn tens of millions of players, but most of the tokens are down substantially from their respective all-time high prices.

Major’s developers have shared some details about how they plan to keep the mini app and its community going after the token drops, including with the launch of a gaming hub, plus the ability to mint in-game achievements as NFTs that can impact rankings in other games.

The creators of Major also plan to airdrop 1% of the token supply—that is, 1 million MAJOR—to Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov, “the person who has built such an amazing ecosystem,” per a post.

Neon EVM announced a transformative Solana-native framework, unveiling a suite of features aimed at integrating Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dApps) with Solana’s ecosystem.

The new architecture, detailed in a comprehensive whitepaper published on Dec. 3, enables direct interaction between Solana wallets and Ethereum applications while leveraging Solana’s high-performance infrastructure.

The release introduces key capabilities such as Solana wallet compatibility for Ethereum transactions, an on-chain mempool for scalable execution, and intent-based operations allowing conditional transactions like automated token swaps.

With these innovations, users can sign Neon EVM transactions using Solana wallets, including Phantom, Backpack, and Solflare — eliminating the need for separate Ethereum wallets. The update significantly simplifies wallet management while ensuring users retain full control of their assets.

Neon EVM Chief Commercial Officer Davide Menegaldo emphasized the importance of the update, calling it a milestone in cross-chain functionality.

He said:

“This release unifies user experience and liquidity, providing a seamless bridge between Solana and Ethereum dApps.”

He added that the forthcoming Software Development Kit (SDK) would allow developers to fully explore these capabilities, paving the way for broader adoption of Ethereum-based applications on Solana.

The whitepaper also highlights infrastructure enhancements such as Associated Neon Accounts, which simplify liquidity management by linking Solana public keys to EVM-compatible addresses, and Controlled Transaction Trees, enabling atomic and parallel execution for complex applications.

Additionally, the on-chain mempool facilitates efficient scheduling and execution of transactions, reducing costs and improving scalability. The integration is set to benefit both users and developers.

Solana users gain access to Ethereum’s robust dApp ecosystem without leaving the Solana environment, while developers can deploy Ethereum applications with minimal friction by leveraging the network’s speed and efficiency. For DeFi platforms, the enhanced liquidity and reduced transaction costs could drive greater efficiency and adoption.

Neon EVM’s advancements mark a significant step in cross-chain collaboration, bridging two of the most dynamic blockchain ecosystems. By addressing challenges in interoperability and usability, the platform is poised to redefine how Ethereum-native applications interact with Solana’s infrastructure.

Mentioned in this article

Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem is hitting new heights, with its total value locked (TVL) nearing an all-time high of $700 million.

DeFillama data shows that the blockchain network is riding the current bullish market sentiment by adding over $400 million to reach $680 million as of press time. This number marks a massive turnaround for the blockchain network, which saw its TVL drop to as low as around $50 million in November 2022 following FTX’s shock collapse.

TVL is often seen as a barometer for the health and trust of a DeFi ecosystem. The metric reflects a blockchain network’s growing appeal in the crypto space, with an increase signaling a surge in investor’s confidence in the platform.

In addition to its TVL growth, Cardano’s decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reported a trading volume of $22.35 million in the past day, the highest since December 2023. According to DeFillama data, weekly DEX trading volume also hit $117.32 million, marking the best performance since May 2023.

Speaking on these numbers, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said they represent the dawn of DeFi activity on the blockchain network while highlighting the ecosystem’s progress and growing adoption.

ADA price rally

The improved DeFi activities come as Cardano’s ADA token has emerged as a top performer during the current market uptrend.

Over the past week, the crypto asset has gained more than 20%, reaching a peak of $1.21. According to CryptoSlate data, this is ADA’s highest price level since 2022.

This momentum has propelled Cardano’s market capitalization to over $40 billion, making it the ninth-largest digital asset globally. The rally aligns with broader bullish market conditions and several ecosystem advancements.

Market observers noted that recent developments — including the implementation of Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology and the transition towards decentralized governance — have boosted Cardano’s prospects.

According to them, these innovations have provided a strong foundation for sustained growth and solidified the network’s position as a critical player in the crypto space.

Mentioned in this article

Assistant Professor Hyunuk Kim of Elon’s Business School has published research on how digital art collectors navigate the NFT market using their digital wallets.

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